IT ROCKED quantum theory when it was first proposed in 2004, unleashing a dam-burst of vitriol in the physics community. Now the controversial experiment that questions our understanding of the wave-and-particle nature of light has finally been published, forcing some of its initial opponents to take it seriously.
The experiment, carried out by physicist Shahriar Afshar – then at the private, Boston-based Institute for Radiation-Induced Mass Studies – challenges a principle proposed by Niels Bohr 80 years ago. It relates to subatomic entities such as electrons and photons that seem to behave as if they were particles in some experiments…
