When Light Went Against Einstein: MIT Experiment Sparks Old Debate
It has always been a fascinating mystery in physics: wave and particle, certainty and uncertainty, the boundary between the tangible and the invisible. Every generation has tried to decipher its essence. Now, a new experiment from MIT provides definitive evidence that forces us to look again at what we thought was unquestionable.
The double slit: a mirror of dual nature
In 1801, Young surprised the world by demonstrating that light could behave like a wave, generating interference patterns impossible to explain if it were just a flow of particles. More than a century later, Einstein would add the photoelectric effect to the equation, revealing the corpuscular nature of photons and thus cementing the idea that light could have a dual identity.
Einstein vs. Bohr: a debate that marked an era
However, the dilemma was different: is it possible to observe light as both a wave and a particle at the same time? Einstein believed it was possible, convinced that physics should reflect a universe governed by deterministic laws, with “hidden variables” yet to be discovered. Bohr argued the opposite: the measurement itself conditions the phenomenon, and the observer can never contemplate both natures at once.
MIT pushes the theory to the limit
In July 2025, MIT conducted an experiment that pushed the boundaries of our understanding. There, individual photons once again showed their enigmatic nature: the more precise the information about their trajectory, the more the interference pattern faded, and vice versa. In this way, Einstein’s hypothesis of observing both behaviors simultaneously was refuted, reaffirming Bohr’s view on the impossibility of escaping the principle of complementarity.
Not only do these experiments provide unprecedented experimental precision, they also solidify the notion that uncertainty is not an error, but a fundamental component of the universe. Light, as a metaphor for knowledge, continues to show us that the more we try to grasp it, the more it reminds us that reality moves between probabilities and inevitable limits.
