Sir Rudolf Peierls and radiation pressure

Towards the end of his life, Rudolf Peierls became interested in photon momentum and radiation pressure. He subsequently published a number of theoretical papers on the subject. Although the work of Peierls has neither been widely adopted nor developed, it did nevertheless have a provoking and fruitful effect on the radiation pressure research undertaken by Alan Gibson and Rodney Loudon at the University of Essex.This article is part of the theme issue, 'The quantum theory of light'.