Ultraviolet divergence short distances. The name comes from the earliest example of such a divergence, the "ultraviolet catastrophe" first encountered in understanding blackbody radiation. According to classical physics at the end of the nineteenth century, the quantity of radiation in the form of light released at any specific wavelength should increase with decreasing wavelength—in particular, there should be considerably more ultraviolet light released from a blackbody radiator than infrared light. Measurements showed the opposite, with maximal energy released at intermediate wavelengths, suggesting a failure of classical mechanics. This problem eventually led to the development of quantum mechanics. The successful resolution of the
Ultraviolet communication in butterflies rapid opening and closing of the wings, is performed when a male approaches another butterfly; yet, males copulate with females who perform this behavior, while retreating from males who perform the flutter response. By showing that male and female wings are similar in appearance except for UV reflectance and an approaching male is exposed to ultraviolet reflection of a male's wings during a flutter response, as well as ruling out temporal differences in the flutter behavior as a cause for sex recognition, Ronald Rutowski concluded that ultraviolet light was being used as an indicator of the male sex. However, in