👉 Light particles, or photons, are fundamental entities that have been studied since the early days of modern physics. The concept of light as a particle dates back to the late 17th century with Christiaan Huygens' wave theory, but it was Albert Einstein's 1905 paper on the photoelectric effect that truly revolutionized our understanding by proposing that light also behaves as discrete packets of energy, now known as photons. This dual nature of light—exhibiting both wave-like and particle-like properties—was further solidified by experiments like those conducted by Arthur Compton in 1923, which demonstrated the particle-like behavior of light through scattering experiments. Over the 20th century, the development of quantum mechanics and the work of physicists such as Paul Dirac and John Wheeler cemented the photon's role as a cornerstone of quantum theory, explaining phenomena from atomic spectra to the behavior of light in various media. Today, photons are essential in numerous technologies, including lasers, fiber optics, and solar cells, and continue to be a subject of intense research in fields ranging from quantum computing to cosmology.
