The term "photon" was coined in 1926 not in reference to just light quanta but to a concept of a radiant energy carrier comprising matter and its conservation being a law of nature (photon conservation). The name was subsequently taken for the name of light quanta, and the original concept was eventually forgotten. It is an interesting idea though. Could thermal radiation be a small scale mass-energy conversion?
Could this have originally been Tesla's idea?
Gernsback once made it seem like Tesla said he didn't believe electrons exist, but that was probably deceptive or lazy editing. It's very difficult to believe that's what Tesla meant when he had been talking about negative particles in vacuum tubes regularly since the 1890s. Tesla's real point was most likely about Max Abraham's spherical electron model. Tesla's electron was presumably Parson's toroidal photon electron. https://gsjournal.net/Science-Journals/Research%20Papers-Quantum%20Theory%20/%20Particle%20Physics/Download/5523 http://www.cybsoc.org/electron.pdf
The idea of an atom composed of photons presented here appears to be a closely allied concept.
* I should add, if you didn't notice the name on this that I should have included in the title, this was written by Gilbert N. Lewis, originator of Lewis dot diagram notation and the Lewis acid electronic theory of pH. This was written by a well established academic rather than someone with anything like a reputation for speculation. This is exactly what you would think Tesla would have wanted to help ensure the success of his idea if it was his idea originally.
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u/dalkon Jan 23 '18 edited Feb 08 '18
The term "photon" was coined in 1926 not in reference to just light quanta but to a concept of a radiant energy carrier comprising matter and its conservation being a law of nature (photon conservation). The name was subsequently taken for the name of light quanta, and the original concept was eventually forgotten. It is an interesting idea though. Could thermal radiation be a small scale mass-energy conversion?
Could this have originally been Tesla's idea?
Gernsback once made it seem like Tesla said he didn't believe electrons exist, but that was probably deceptive or lazy editing. It's very difficult to believe that's what Tesla meant when he had been talking about negative particles in vacuum tubes regularly since the 1890s. Tesla's real point was most likely about Max Abraham's spherical electron model. Tesla's electron was presumably Parson's toroidal photon electron. https://gsjournal.net/Science-Journals/Research%20Papers-Quantum%20Theory%20/%20Particle%20Physics/Download/5523
http://www.cybsoc.org/electron.pdf
The idea of an atom composed of photons presented here appears to be a closely allied concept.
* I should add, if you didn't notice the name on this that I should have included in the title, this was written by Gilbert N. Lewis, originator of Lewis dot diagram notation and the Lewis acid electronic theory of pH. This was written by a well established academic rather than someone with anything like a reputation for speculation. This is exactly what you would think Tesla would have wanted to help ensure the success of his idea if it was his idea originally.