This looks like the photo electric effect ... classical physics reckoned that if you shone an intense enough light beam on a metal you could get electrons ejected from the metal (maybe in analogy to thermionic emission - heat). It sort of "forgot" about the frequency and photon/particle nature of light.
Enter the "photo electric" effect experiment, Einstein's explanation, and the Nobel committee having an excuse to award E a Nobel prize, even though said prize was probably more for relativity.
