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On a Heuristic Point of View Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light

This is the first of four scientific papers published by Albert Einstein in his miracle year of 1905. In this paper, Einstein introduced the concept of the photoelectric effect, for which he was later awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921.

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Summary

Einstein proposed that while light behaves like a wave in many situations, in certain processes—such as the photoelectric effect—it is better understood as a stream of tiny particles, which we now call photons. He argued that each photon carries energy in discrete amounts, and when a photon strikes a metal surface, its energy is absorbed by an electron in the metal. If the photon’s energy is high enough, the electron can overcome the forces holding it in the metal and be emitted—a process known as the photoelectric effect.

Einstein’s explanation helped resolve a puzzling experimental result: the energy of the emitted electrons depended not on the intensity of the light—how many photons were striking the surface—but on the wave frequency of the light, which determined the energy carried by each photon.

Einstein’s insight revolutionized physics by demonstrating that light’s behavior cannot be fully explained by wave theory alone, and it paved the way for the development of quantum theory, fundamentally changing our understanding of the nature of energy and matter.

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