The Photon

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the photon, one of the most enigmatic objects in the Universe. Generations of scientists have struggled to understand the nature of light. In the late nineteenth century it seemed clear that light was an electromagnetic wave. But the work of physicists including Planck and Einstein shed doubt on this theory. Today scientists accept that light can behave both as a wave and a particle, the latter known as the photon. Understanding light in terms of photons has enabled the development of some of the most important technology of the last fifty years.

→ Play on BBC Sounds website

Guests

• Frank Close 14 episodes
  Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Oxford
• Wendy Flavell No other episodes
  Professor of Surface Physics at the University of Manchester
• Susan Cartwright 2 episodes
  Senior Lecturer in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Sheffield

Reading list

• The Infinity Puzzle: Quantum Field Theory and the Hunt for an Orderly Universe
  Frank Close Google Books →
• QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter
  Richard Feynman Google Books →
• Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality
  Manjit Kumar Google Books →

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Programme ID: b051vlpf

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b051vlpf

Auto-category: 535 (Light & optics)