Quantum field theory emerges from Newton’s law of universal gravitation. The force of gravity as described by Newton is an “action at a distance” it is inconceivable that inanimate brute matter should operate upon and affect other matter without mutual contact, he writes.
The theory of classical electromagnetism was completed in 1864 with Maxwell’s equations. He introduced fields as properties of space (even when it is devoid of matter) having physical effects. His argument against “action at a distance” and proposed interactions between objects occur via space-filling “lines of force”
Maxwell’s equations implied the existence of electromagnetic waves. Despite the enormous success of classical electromagnetism, it was unable to account for discrete lines in atomic spectra, nor for the distribution of blackbody radiation in different wavelengths.
The Bohr model successfully explained the discrete nature of atomic spectral lines. In 1924, Louis de Broglie proposed the hypothesis of wave-particle duality, that microscopic particles exhibit both wavelike and particle-like properties under different circumstances. In the same year as his paper on the photoelectric effect, Einstein published his theory of special relativity, built on Maxwell’s electromagnetism.
Source:
[1] Wikipedia Contributors. “Quantum Field Theory.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Dec. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_field_theory. Accessed 4 Jan. 2021.