David Brewster (11.12.1781-10.02.1868) was a Scottish physicist, a Fellow of the Royal Society (1815) and president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1864). He was born in Jedburgh. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh (1800). In 1802-06 he was editor of the Edinburgh Magazine, in 1807 — 30 of the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, in 1837—59 Principal of the colleges and professor at the University of St Andrews, and from 1860 vice-president of the University of Edinburgh.
His main research was in the field of optics. He studied the polarisation of light and established in 1815 the relation between the refractive index of a dielectric and the angle of incidence at which light reflected from the surface of the dielectric is completely polarised (Brewster's law). He studied the absorption of light and discovered double refraction in media with artificial anisotropy, circular polarisation (1815) and the existence of biaxial crystals (1818). In 1817 he invented the kaleidoscope, developed a method of producing interference at an edge, improved the stereoscope (1849) and in 1835 constructed lenses for lighthouses. In 1826 he built a horseshoe electromagnet. He was the author of a study of the life of I. Newton (1832).
A corresponding member of the Paris (1825) and St Petersburg (1830) Academies of Sciences. One of the organisers in 1831 of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (its president from 1849) and the first chairman of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts (1821). The Copley (1816) and B. Rumford (1819) Medals, the Royal Medal (1831)