1 Introduction to the conference

Electromagnetic scattering by a homogeneous, isotropic sphere is commonly referred to as Mie theory, although Gustav Mie (1868–1957) was not the first to formulate this electromagnetic scattering problem. Before him Alfred Clebsch (1833–72), solving the elastic point source scattering problem of a perfectly rigid sphere using potential functions [1], and Ludvig Lorenz (1829–91) [3, 2] contributed to this problem [4]. In 1909 Peter Debye (1884 – 1966) considered the related problem of radiation pressure on a spherical particle [5] utilizing two scalar potential functions. Therefore plane wave scattering by a homogeneous isotropic sphere is also referred to as Lorenz-Mie theory [6], or even Lorenz-Mie-Debye theory [7]. The incorrect name Lorentz-Mie theory seems also to be quit common (e.g. in Burlak [8]). Kerker provides an extensive postscript on the history of scattering by a sphere [9]. German physicist Gustav Mie published his classical paper on the simulation of the colour effects connected with colloidal gold particles using the classical Maxwell equations in 1908 [10] when he was professor of physics in Greifswald. This paper gave an outline of how to compute light scattering by small spherical particles and it became the classic contribution to this subject. To cite Eugene Garfield from his 1985 investigation on articles most cited in the SCI from 1961 to 1982 [11]: ”The oldest paper was published in Annalen der Physik in 1908 by Gustav Mie. It is one of three articles in Table 1 written in German. This paper discusses the electric and magnetic vibrations and optical properties of particles in colloidal solutions. Interestingly, it continues to be heavily cited even today 45 times in 1983 alone, 75 years later. It is interesting to speculate why it has not become the common wisdom of physics, which often leads to obliteration of citations to classic work.” Cardona and Marx [12] comment, that this paper was almost ignored until about 1945 but its importance rose with increasing interest in colloids starting from the 1950s such that hundred years after publication the paper is still much cited [14] with currently 160 citations a year (Fig. 1.1). The paper is called Dornröschen (Sleeping Beauty) by the researchers at Information Retrieval Services of Max Planck Society [13] because of its low recognition considering the number of citations during the first years after its publication. But in the 1930s contemporary scientists acknowledged the importance of his contribution. In a special issue devoted to Mie’s 70s birthday Ilse Fränz-Gotthold and Max von Laue [15] dedicate their paper to ”Gustav Mie whom physics owes the mathematical treatment of diffraction by a sphere”. The current citations of Mie’s paper show that the applications of Mie theory cover