Abstract
In science teaching, reports concerning contributions from important characters in the History of Physics are, most of time, simplistic, focusing only on crucial experiments or specific findings, without considering the aspects of the context in which the researcher was immersed. This is the case of the figure of Thomas Young, who – regarding the wave theory of light – is often associated with the double-slit experiment. In this paper, we present, in a detailed way, the contribution given by Thomas Young for the development of the wave theory of light. Considering the general context of the time, we emphasize the conceptual and epistemological aspects, aiming to contribute for the discussion on Nature of Science (NoS) aspects in science teaching.
Keywords:
Nature of Science; Thomas Young; History and Philosophy of Science