Nicol prism

English Etymology Invented in 1828 by William Nicol (1770–1851) of Edinburgh. Noun en optics An optical device used to generate polarized light. en 2006 Thomas Pynchon Against the Day 155 Vintage 2007 “You are in mortal danger,” declared their Scientific Officer, Dr. Counterfly, a scholarly sort, bearded and bundled like the rest of them, his eyes concealed by a pair of ingenious goggles, whose lenses proved to be matched pairs of Nicol prisms which could be rotated so as to control precisely the amount of light admitted to each eye. en eponyms