Dynamic theory of the electromagnetic field formulated by Maxwell

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.3: Scottish Writing and Culture, 400-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), J. Derrick McClure (University of Aberdeen), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Domains

Electricity & Magnetism

Dates

Date of occurrence 1864

Places

Scotland (Location)

Resources

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In 1865, the Scottish theoretical physicist James Clerk Maxwell had published two previous papers on electomagnetism, but it was in his "A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field" that he did his most important work. He brought together observations that had previously been considered disparate, on electricity, light and magnetic forces, to produce a set of twenty equations formalising the relationship between these. In this paper, he demonstrated that light and electromagnetism existed in the same form, namely waves.

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78 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Dynamic theory of the electromagnetic field formulated by Maxwell". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 August 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=6327, accessed 05 May 2024.]

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