History of the concept of photons and of their mental models - concept formation in slow motion

talk by Prof. Dr. Klaus Hentschel (University of Stuttgart)

History of the concept of photons and of their mental models - concept
formation in slow motion

Abstract: How are complex concepts (such as that of ‘light quanta’, terminologically introduced in 1905, renamed `photons' in 1926) formed? How is terminological change interlinked with the development of concepts and with mental mode­l­ing underlying these terms? Well-defined terms usually come chronically late, much later than the thoughts and mental models which eventually lead to them. And even after such terms are available, substantial disagreement concerning their meaning might still exist – various different, indeed conflicting mental models are often associated with one and the same term. Light quanta are paradigmatic for such processes which took unusually long in this case and is therefore particulary suited for a close study of this process 'in slow motion'. My claim is that we need a closer combination of history of science with a history of terminology (/Begriffs­ge­schich­te/), the history of ideas and a more cognitively oriented history of mental models in science. The talk will sketch some of the more general claims on the basis of handpicked examples.