Radiation Theory and the Quantum Revolution

This book tells the story of the researches that are traditionally lumped together under the label "radiation theory" and revolving, loosely speaking around the familiar heat- and-light exchange (hot bodies emit light or radiate; the absorption of light, especially sunlight, is warming). This characterization, we will soon find out, is too crude. Attempts to improve upon it have brought about the revolution in physics known as the quantum revolution (because the revolutionary change involved was the chopping up of light waves into discrete quantities) early in the twentieth-century. I wrote it with the following rules in mind: (a) try to present the development of the intellectual background relevant to your story; (b) try to present the details of your story in a critical manner; try to present developments as results of dissatisfaction with current states of affairs; (c) try to avoid reporting any piece of information without explaining what purpose it serves.