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3erLUGAR,CATEGORÍAMAYORINGLÉS XVIICertamenNacionaldeEnsayoCientífico,2015 TheEvolutionofLightTechnologies RonaldVilchezMartínez,ColegioCientíficodelAtlántico Whatislight?Thisisthequestionphilosophersandthinkershaveasked themselvessincealongtimeago.Oursearchfortheunderstandingofthisterm startsbackintheancientGreecewherelightandvisionwerethoughttobethesame anditwasnotsomethingthatexistedapartfromseeing.Thisthoughtmadeus considerthequestionofwhathappensto,inthiscase,lightwhenwearenot looking.Asthetimekeptgoing,theperspectiveoflightasaphysicalentitywas gettingstrongerandourearlyinvestigatorsoflight,beingnotsatisfiedwithwhat lightwasthoughttobeatthattime,startedtodevelopsomeinteresting explanationsforwhateventodayisamysteriousphenomenon. SirIsaacNewton,knownmostlyforhisworkinmathematicsandmechanics, wasoneofthefirstearlyinvestigatorsoflightwhothoughtaboutitinasimilarway towhatwecalltodaytheraymodel.Hethoughtthatlightwasmadeupofvery smallandfastparticlestravelinginstraightlines.EventhoughNewton´smodelwas oneofthefirstonesgenerallyacceptedbythescientificcommunity,itdidnottake longuntilsomeonefoundawaytoopposetoit,wearetalkingaboutRobertHooke, knownbythelawwithhisname,andtheDutchscientistChristiaanHuygens,who thoughtlightwassomekindofwave.Thisoppositionwasoneofthefirsttimesthat Newton´smodelwasbeingchallengedanditwasthebirthofoursecondgenerally acceptedmodeloflight,thewavemodel. Thewavelikebehavioroflightwasdemonstratedtobearealityafterthe experimentoftheEnglishscientistThomasYoungwhosaidhehadbeenableto createinterferencebetweentwowavesoflight,beinginterference,adistinctive wave-likephenomenon.Engineersandscientistshavemadegooduseofboth modelsoflight,theraymodelbeingusedtofabricatecameras,microscopesand telescopeswiththehelpoflensesandmirrorsandthewavemodelasavaluabletool toexplainwhathappenstolightatamicroscopiclevel.Alsobeingthemissingpiece toopenanewareaofstudies,quantumphysics. Itwasrequiredatheoryoflight,thephotonmodeloflight.Thisnewmodelis reliantonquantumphysicsanditsolvestheproblemoflightbeingawaveora particledilemmaconsideringitasneitherofthembutinsteadasphotonsthathave bothwave-likeandparticle-likeproperties.Thisisstillanewfieldforphysiciststo studyandthemostofitsapplicationsarestillunknown. Inconclusion,thehistoryoflighthasbeencontinuouslychangingthroughthe yearsandthereisstillsomuchtofindoutaboutwhatlightreallyisbutifwekeepon mindthelightofhope,wewillabletosucceedinthisjourneystartedcenturiesago.