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On a Heuristic Point of View about the Creation and Conversion of Light

Albert Einstein · Annalen der Physik , 1905 · Basis for the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics.

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Abstract

There exists a profound formal difference between the theoretical representations of gases and other ponderable bodies currently used by physicists on the one hand, and Maxwell's theory of electromagnetic processes in so-called empty space on the other. Whereas we regard the state of a body as being completely determined by the positions and velocities of a quite finite number of atoms and electrons, we use for the determination of the electromagnetic state in space continuous spatial functions, so that a finite number of variables cannot be regarded as sufficient for the complete description of such a state.

Citation

@article{einstein1905photoelectric,
  title = {On a Heuristic Point of View about the Creation and Conversion of Light},
  author = {Einstein, Albert},
  journal = {Annalen der Physik},
  volume = {322},
  number = {6},
  pages = {132--148},
  year = {1905},
  doi = {10.1002/andp.19053220607}
}