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The title and introduction of the paper read: ON A HEURISTIC POINT OF VIEW CONCERNING THE PRODUCTION AND TRANSFORMATION OF LIGHT by A. Einstein [Annalen der Physik 17 (1905): 132-148] There exists a profound formal difference between the theoretical conceptions physicists have formed about gases and other ponderable bodies, and Maxwell's theory of electromagnetic processes in so-called empty space. While we conceive of the state of a body as being completely determined by the positions and velocities of a very large but nevertheless finite number of atoms and electrons, we use continuous spatial functions to determine the electromagnetic state of a space. so that a finite number…

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The title and introduction of the paper read: ON A HEURISTIC POINT OF VIEW CONCERNING THE PRODUCTION AND TRANSFORMATION OF LIGHT by A. Einstein [Annalen der Physik 17 (1905): 132-148] There exists a profound formal difference between the theoretical conceptions physicists have formed about gases and other ponderable bodies, and Maxwell's theory of electromagnetic processes in so-called empty space. While we conceive of the state of a body as being completely determined by the positions and velocities of a very large but nevertheless finite number of atoms and electrons, we use continuous spatial functions to determine the electromagnetic state of a space. so that a finite number…
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Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 14-Dec-2023 15:45:53 UTC Robert McNees
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If so, it was a trick that *worked*.
Previous efforts to derive the blackbody emission spectrum using classical physics gave nonsensical results at high frequencies. Replace continuous emission with discrete quanta and things work out perfectly.
Evidence for the reality of quanta began with Einstein’s explanation of the photoelectric effect in 1905. The proposal that radiation of frequency f exists only in discrete chunks of energy E=hf was the first result of Einstein’s “Miracle Year.”

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