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Light: A Very Short Introduction

Online ISBN:
9780191782442
Print ISBN:
9780199682690
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
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Light: A Very Short Introduction

Ian A. Walmsley
Ian A. Walmsley
Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Hooke Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Oxford
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Published:
24 September 2015
Online ISBN:
9780191782442
Print ISBN:
9780199682690
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

Light enables us to see the world around us, and this sensation of vision has led to a fascination with the nature and properties of light. Light: A Very Short Introduction discusses early attempts to explain light; the opposing particulate and wave theories by scientists such as Isaac Newton and Christiaan Huygens; how light was recognized as an electromagnetic wave in the 19th century; and the 20th-century development of the quantum mechanics view of wave–particle duality. It also describes the many applications of light—domestic and scientific—including microwaves, DVDs, and lasers. It concludes by considering some of the most exciting new developments using quantum light sources in communications and computing.

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