The famed physicist credited with creating the wave theory of light is Christiaan Huygens. In the 17th century, he proposed that light travels in waveforms, a revolutionary idea that significantly advanced the understanding of optics. Huygens' principle, which describes how waves propagate, laid the groundwork for later developments in physics, influencing future scientists like James Clerk Maxwell and Albert Einstein. His contributions to the field established a fundamental framework for examining the nature of light, leading to profound insights into wave-particle duality and ultimately shaping modern physics.