Come listen and learn, I’ve a story I tell,

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I sing of the genius of Willebrord Snell

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A mathematician who lived long ago

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In the Netherlands where the Rhine river does flow.

Willebrord van Roijen Snell

1580-1626

(Note that the first name is actually pronounced “Villbrort”, but in the song is pronounced “Vill-e-brort”.)

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He set for his mind occupations of worth,

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Improved navigation and measured the Earth!

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He gave us the sine law, that wonderful guy,

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And he made more precise calculation of pi!

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Singin’ n1 sine theta-sub-1, hey, hey, hey,

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Equals n2 sine theta-sub-2, hip hooray!

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His greatest feat came in Sixteen Twenty-one,

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When optics as science was really begun!

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While flashes of lightning illumined his page,

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He wrote down Snell’s law, his great gift to the age!

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So if you wear glasses or like to fry ants,

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Be grateful your lenses were not made by chance!

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Astronomers hail him with each new-found star!

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Microscopists toast him from each sleazy bar!

C F (or C) G (or G7) Am (or C)

Singin’ n1 sine theta-sub-1, hey, hey, hey,

C F (or C) G (or G7) C

Equals n2 sine theta-sub-2, hip hooray!

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Now some credit Harriot, others Descartes,

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Both studied refraction, and both were real smart.

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But we prefer Willebrord van Roijen Snell --

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He laid down the law, and he did it darn well!

C F (or C) G (or G7) Am (or C)

Singin’ n1 sine theta-sub-1, hey, hey, hey,

C F (or C) G (or G7) C

Equals n2 sine theta-sub-2, hip hooray!

Ó 2002 Marian B. McKenzie and Walter Fox Smith