AN OVERVIEW OF MAXWELL’S TREATISE

Authors: Arthur D. Yaghjian

Source:FERMAT, Volume 11, Communications 8, Sep_Oct, 2015


Abstract: Over a period of about twenty years, Maxwell's determination and unification of the equations of electricity and magnetism evolved from his first paper on the subject in 1855-56, “On Faraday's Lines of Force,” to the publication of his Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism in 1873. Notwithstanding the many historical accounts and textbooks devoted to Maxwell's work, I have not been able to find a reasonably concise, yet definitive summary of the fundamentals of exactly what Maxwell did in his Treatise and how he did it. This talk is based on the paper “Reflections on Maxwell’s Treatise” (PIER, 2014), which represents my own attempt to provide such a summary.

Keywords: Maxwell’s Treatise, Electromagnetic Theory, History of Electromagnetics.


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An Overview Of Maxwell's Treatise