From Latin spectrum 'appearance' + Greek metron 'measure,' the instrument that revealed new elements through their unique light signatures.
An instrument used to measure the properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
From Latin spectrum 'appearance, image' (from specere 'to look at') + Greek metron 'measure.' Newton coined 'spectrum' in 1671 for the band of colors produced by a prism. The spectrometer, developed in the mid-19th century by Kirchhoff and Bunsen, enabled the discovery of new elements by their spectral lines. Key