The Mysterious Physics of Rainbows
Scientists have been refining their understanding of rainbows’ unusual features since René Descartes first studied them in 1637.
This summer I went on a family holiday to Cornwall, on the Helford River. The peninsula south of the river is, rather wonderfully, called The Lizard. Standing on its cliffs, you are at the southernmost point of mainland Britain. North of the river is the port of Falmouth, from where packet-ships kept the mail services of the British Empire running until 1851. The area is lush with the sort of half-tamed beauty that England does so well, and the boundary with the contrasting wildness of the Atlantic is never far away.
Walking home from a riverside pub one evening, I witnessed a stirring natural display. With the sun setting at our backs, a fantastically bright and complete double
