Question

Who gave the corpuscular model for light before Newton?

Answer 1

Newton's corpuscular theory gave the structure of light. According to this theory light was considered to be consisting of small particles called corpuscles which travels with high speed. This theory was successful in explaining reflection and refraction but was unable to explain phenomena like interference, diffraction and polarization.

Answer 2

In 1637 Descartes gave the corpuscular model of light and derived Snell's law. This Corpuscular model of light was further developed by Isaac Newton in his famous book entitled OPTICKS and because of the tremendous popularity of this book, the corpuscular model is very often attributed to him and is called Newton's Corpuscular theory.