John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, was a British physicist and hereditary peer who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1904 for his discovery of argon.
Rayleigh in 1904
Caricature of Lord Rayleigh in the London magazine Vanity Fair, 1899.
Theory of sound, 1894
Rayleigh scattering
Videos
Rayleigh scattering is the scattering or deflection of light, or other electromagnetic radiation, by particles with a size much smaller than the wavelength of the radiation. For light frequencies well
John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh
…the first theoretical treatment of the elastic scattering of light by particles much smaller than the light's wavelength, a phenomenon now known as Rayleigh scattering, which notably explains why the sky is blue. He studied and described transverse surface waves in solids, now known as Rayleigh waves. He contributed…
Rayleigh scattering causes the blue color of the sky at large angles to the direction of solar rays and yellow or orange colors for light from the direction of the Sun.
Due to Rayleigh scattering, red and orange colors are more visible during sunset because the blue and violet light has been scattered out of the direct path. This can yield dramatically colored skies and monochromatic rainbows.
Scattered blue light is polarized. The picture on the right is shot through a polarizing filter: the polarizer transmits light that is linearly polarized in a specific direction.
Rayleigh scattering in opalescent glass: it appears blue from the side, but orange light shines through.