A HISTORICAL REVIEW OF MOIRE INTERFEROMETRY

High sensitivity moire interferometry is now a technique in fairly gen eral use. Its development arose from the efforts of a number of worker s over a period of nearly 40 years. This progress is reviewed in the l ight of the individual contributions that have led to the present-day accurate and user-friendly systems. tn the first instance, the story i s related in approximate chronological order; the contributions of ind ividuals and groups are outlined in more detail in a series of appendi ces. It will become apparent that moire has not developed in a smooth, linear fashion-rather, a number of people reacted to the problems the y were asked to solve, in a particular manner, and using methods and e quipment available at the time. This view of the progress of science a nd technology as the creation of a climate of opinion and opportunity is very much in line with modern analyses of the history of science.