Isaac Newton published his book Opticks in 1704. Its full title was Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light.
The work presented Newton’s investigations into the behaviour and nature of light, especially his prism experiments showing that white light can be separated into a spectrum of colours. It also examined reflection, refraction, diffraction—called “inflexion” by Newton—and the mixing of colours. Unlike his earlier Principia, which was written in Latin and relied heavily on mathematical deduction, Opticks was published in English and used detailed experiments and observations.
The first edition also ended with a series of “Queries”: open-ended questions and arguments about light, matter, heat, gravity, electricity and chemical action. Newton’s name did not appear prominently on the title page of the first edition. A scholarly Latin translation followed in 1706, while later English editions expanded the number of Queries. The 1704 date refers specifically to the first English publication, not the later translation or revised editions.