What Is Maxwell S Electromagnetic Theory

Clerk Maxwell's Electromagnetic Theory

James Clerk Maxwell and the Theory of the Electromagnetic Field

This book traces the development of Maxwell's theory from his first thoughts on electromagnetism through to the completion of his influential Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, and shows how this development was related not only to contemporary scientific events but also to Maxwell's personal philosophy of science and life. While primarily concerned with the endeavours and achievements of one individual scientist, it also offers a stimulating and forceful challenge to the traditional historiography of 19th century physics as a whole. Of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students of physics or history of science and teachers of physics at school, college or university levels.

A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field

"We owe Clerk Maxwell the precise formulation of the space-time laws of electromagnetic fields. Imagine his own feelings when the partial differential equations he formulated spread in the form of polarized waves with the speed of light! This change in the understanding of the structure of reality is the most profound and fruitful that has come to physics since Newton."--Albert Einstein