Do we understand light?

[flobadob]

Last month during a test at the LHC some neutrinos apparently travelled faster than light. This as we all know has been proven to be impossible. So do we really understand all of the properties of light, and if not what are the possibilities?

[nescio]

beso,
what do you make of Newton's first Query, published in Book 3 of Opticks:
Query 1
"Do not Bodies act upon Light at a distance, and by their action, bend its Rays; and is not this action (caeteris paribus) strongest at the least distance ?" ?

[beso]

It does show he was considering the potential interaction and thinking in the right direction. However it was a question rather than a theory so he can't really be accused of being wrong.

[nescio]

I am not saying he was wrong.
Newton alluded to many things he knew or was working on, but which he chose not to make public.
It is intriguing to wonder how much more he did know...

[flobadob]

Or perhaps he knew that his equations didn't stand up to scrutiny under these various conditions and therefore he kept them hidden so as not to admit he couldn't explain the different scenarios through his theories.

[beso]

I expect Newton was never entirely comfortable with the idea of action at a distance which was the principle behind gravity. In his day this would have suggested some kind of invisible rope connecting them.

Indeed his detractors would have probably seized upon this weakness.

Perhaps if he hadn't spent so much time on theological contemplation he might have headed down the track to relativity himself.