An optical instrument designed to observe or measure dichroic effects, where materials show different colors depending on the angle or wavelength of light.
From 'dichroic' plus the Greek suffix '-scope' (an instrument for viewing or observing). This scientific instrument emerged as optical physics developed in the 19th and 20th centuries.
A dichroiscope allowed 19th-century mineralogists to identify unknown gems with remarkable accuracy—by rotating a crystal and watching it change colors, they could determine exactly what it was without damaging the stone.
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