Final answer:
At the end of the 17th century, experiments by Isaac Newton regarding the corpuscular nature of light were a significant state-of-the-art endeavor in physics, paving the way for later discoveries such as Young's double-slit experiment and the wave nature of light.
Step-by-step explanation:
The state-of-the-art physics experiment attempted at the end of the 17th century was the exploration of the nature of light and the investigation into its wave-like properties. Isaac Newton and Christiaan Huygens were key figures in these investigations, with Newton advancing the corpuscular theory of light, and Huygens providing a wave-based explanation for optical phenomena like reflection and refraction.
However, it wasn't until the early 19th century when Thomas Young's double-slit experiment produced interference patterns that the wave nature of light gained strong empirical support, leading to the classical wave model of light. This push towards understanding light as a wave paved the way for later developments in electromagnetism by James Clerk Maxwell and the introduction of quantum mechanics, which acknowledges light's dual wave-particle nature. It is important to note that at the end of the 17th century, the corpuscular theory was dominant and experiments like those by Newton were at the forefront of optical science.