What I’d like to know: what did people think Light was before Maxwell showed that it was electromagnetic waves?
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Replying to @EmanuelDerman
You really wonder or is it a rhetorical question?
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Replying to @jeuasommenulle @EmanuelDerman
Because i wrote a whole book on the subject so if you are really wondering I'll be glad to answer
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Replying to @EmanuelDerman @jeuasommenulle
Especially during the 50 years before Maxwell
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Replying to @EmanuelDerman
Before Maxwell it was mostly the Fresnel theory based on vibrations of the luminous ether- which was also confused with the ether supposed to be the origin of heat
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Replying to @jeuasommenulle @EmanuelDerman
Of course this isn't how Newton thought of light. And Newton's views, though less popular than Fresnel's in the years immediately before Maxwell's breakthrough, were certainly never entirely forgotten and discredited. Ultimately, Einstein revived them with his theory of photons.
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Replying to @MathPrinceps @EmanuelDerman
Yes- i meant immediately, before as Emanuel asked. See the rest of the thread. The fight between Huyghens and Newton was v. interesting
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Replying to @jeuasommenulle @EmanuelDerman
Particularly interesting, I think, is that the beginnings of a modern reconciliation of the ancient conflict between Huyghens and Newton emerged from the brilliantly original work of Hamilton on optics, which was essentially complete at the time of Maxwell's birth.
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Replying to @MathPrinceps @EmanuelDerman
Hamilton was way too revolutionary for his time... not enough credit for his genius.
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I could not agree more. Hamilton was one of the most profoundly original mathematicians of all time. He might have been more influential in his day, had he not been so profoundly unhappy -- for he was a fine expositor, and a polyglot. Depression limited his colloquy with others.
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