Aspects of corpuscle and wave in the Newtonian theory of light: from visions of the post-Newtonian period to the current view of microscopic phenomena

Abstract

Our purpose in this work is to discuss aspects of corpuscle and wave in the Newtonian theory of light, in the view of some physicists from periods after the Newton period, from the phenomenon of the formation of colors in thin transparent films. At first, we present the historical and scientific context in which the phenomenon of colors in thin transparent films was studied by Newton; after, some contributions of Newton for the understanding of this phenomenon, presented in the second half of that century and beginning of the eighteenth century, are discussed; and also the vision of some physicists recognized by the scientific community, in later historical periods to Newton, about aspects of wave and corpuscle in their works, is shown. The paper concludes by pointing out that the difficulties in describing entities in the atomic world through the concepts of wave and corpuscle are, certainly, due to the fact that these concepts are of the macroscopic universe and lose their applicability as they are used to explain the phenomena of the world of atoms.