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A. Shapiro
Dept. of Physics, Minnesota
In the early 20th century it was found that particles, such as electrons,
sometimes behave like waves while light waves sometimes behave like
particles. These phenomena were very different from the ordinary
macroscopic properties of particles and waves that had long been familiar
to physicists. They found that to describe these new phenomena both
classical wave and particle properties were required. Yet, the concepts of
wave and particle were continually evolving and rather than recognizing
the poverty of contemporary concepts and simply revising them, they froze
the concepts of wave and particle from circa 1900 in place.
I will first show how much and continually the properties of light
particles and, especially, waves changed since the early 17th century.
Then I will describe an earlier encounter with wave particle duality when
Newton found that he had to invoke both waves and particles to explain
interference phenomena. Newton's attitude to wave particle duality was
much like Einstein's, namely, a problem to be solved, not a mystery to be
pondered.
For more information about Alan Shapiro, visit his
website.
Additional resources for this talk: video,
slides.
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