Year: 1979
Type: article
Abstract: Light - the physicists' problem. The nature of light was the subject \nof such controversy ever since two schools of thought - one led by Newton, \nthe other by Huyghens - had proposed two different viewpoints of the nature \nof light. Newton viewed light as a stream of discrete particles while Huyghens \nmaintained that light was a form of wave-motion. As any O-level student \nknows, experimentation involving wave-properties such as diffraction (the \nfamous Young's slits experiments) eventually proved as correct Huyghens' \nidea of light as waves passing through a continium, which was eventually shown \nto be space itself by the Scot, James Clerk-MaxwelI in his work on electromagnetic \nradiation. By the end of the 19th Century, it seemed that light presented no problem. Light was waves.
Source: OAR@UM (University of Malta)
Author: Albert Farrugia
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2970340596