ABSTRACT
In the perspective of classical theory it is the ability of light to interfere and diffract which above all prevents us from believing that light consists of a sort of classical particles, perhaps pointlike. Even if we took the standpoint that propagating light fields in free space did consist of streams of pointlike entities, these can certainly not be robust in their interaction with material particles, although this was suggested by the scientist G. N. Lewis who in 1926 coined the name photon for Einstein’s light quanta [144]. Despite the fact that the idea of the existence of uncreatible and indestructible “light atoms” has turned out to be untenable, the theory of classical optics shows reminiscences of particle behavior in situations where the finite wavelength of light is negligible.
