Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell: The Florentine days

Faraday and Maxwell

Lightspeed ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198841968.003.0006 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 91-111

Author(s):

John C. H. Spence

Keyword(s):

Displacement Current ◽

Optical Effect ◽

Radio Waves ◽

Speed Of Light ◽

Charge Balance ◽

James Clerk Maxwell ◽

Horse Riding ◽

Magneto Optical Effect ◽

Michael Faraday ◽

First Time

The story of Michael Faraday and the development of field theory in the early nineteenth century and his discovery of the magneto-optical effect, which linked the study of optics and light to electromagnetism for the first time, and led to the discovery of the displacement current. The integration of electrostatics and electromagnetism by James Clerk Maxwell and others. How Maxwell discovered his great equations, which predict a constant speed of light and show that light is an electromagnetic wave. How the symmetry which resulted from his displacement current provided an important clue for Einstein’s theory. Maxwell’s current-charge balance apparatus, which allowed him to measure the speed of light by purely electrical means. How Maxwell’s equations were later used in the discovery of radio waves. Maxwell’s life and interests, from poetry to horse riding and guitar. Kelvin and the laying of the Atlantic cable.

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Ørsted, Hans Christian (1777–1851)

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy ◽

10.4324/9780415249126-dc119-1 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Andrew D. Wilson

Keyword(s):

Albert Einstein ◽

Scientific Work ◽

Dynamical Theory ◽

Early Years ◽

Religious Instruction ◽

Natural Laws ◽

James Clerk Maxwell ◽

Heinrich Hertz ◽

Unified View ◽

Michael Faraday

Hans Christian Ørsted, the Danish chemist and physicist, discovered electromagnetism in 1820. This epochal discovery fundamentally changed the development of physical science, leading to the ground-breaking research of Michael Faraday, Andre-Marie Ampere, James Clerk Maxwell, Heinrich Hertz, Albert Einstein, and others. In his scientific work, Ørsted espoused a dynamical theory of matter which had its roots in Immanuel Kant’s metaphysics of nature, and he remained committed to the belief in the fundamental interconnection of natural forces, a commitment that can be traced back to his religious instruction as a youth and to Friedrich von Schelling’s Naturphilosophie. During the early years of his career, he strove to provide a rigorous metaphysical foundation for the science of chemistry. Throughout his life and scientific work, Ørsted understood natural laws and phenomena to be the rational revelation of God, and sought to develop a unified view of nature reflecting this belief.

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Analogy

10.1093/oso/9780198809982.003.0005 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Andrea Henderson

Keyword(s):

Theoretical Models ◽

Physical World ◽

Algernon Charles Swinburne ◽

Conceptual Tool ◽

James Clerk Maxwell ◽

Scientific Advancement ◽

The Subject ◽

Natural Philosophers ◽

Material Bodies ◽

Michael Faraday

Analogy was a crucial conceptual tool for Victorian natural philosophers, who regarded the physical world less in terms of material bodies than formal relationships. Thus, even as they aimed for verisimilitude in their theoretical models, James Clerk Maxwell and Michael Faraday used analogical figures freely, for they understood nature itself to be structured around analogical relations. Like Maxwell, Algernon Charles Swinburne wrote an undergraduate essay on the subject of analogy, conceiving it as fundamental to both scientific advancement and poetic production, where its logic of equivalence subsumes not only metaphor but also rhythm and rhyme. Swinburne’s poems “Before the Mirror” and “Sapphics” dramatize the replacement of the traditional notion of metaphor by the structures of formal analogy.

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Uma análise histórica da construção de significados físicos para o conceito de potencial vetor no eletromagnetismo clássico

Caderno Brasileiro de Ensino de Física ◽

10.5007/2175-7941.2017v34n3p798 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 34 (3) ◽

pp. 798-822

Author(s):

Aldo Aoyagui Gomes Pereira ◽

Cibelle Celestino Silva

Keyword(s):

James Clerk Maxwell ◽

Heinrich Hertz ◽

Michael Faraday

Atualmente o conceito de potencial vetor é geralmente tratado nos livros-texto e ensinado nos cursos universitários de eletromagnetismo como um artifício matemático para o cálculo dos campos elétrico e magnético. Porém, a investigação histórica da origem e desenvolvimento deste conceito, principalmente nos trabalhos de Michael Faraday e James Clerk Maxwell, nos deu indícios de que estes cientistas atribuíam significados físicos e análogos mecânicos a grandezas que atualmente recebem a denominação de potencial vetor. No contexto no qual estes cientistas trabalhavam, segunda metade de século XIX, a comunidade científica considerava que os fenômenos eletromagnéticos ocorriam em um éter com propriedades mecânicas e que as grandezas eletromagnéticas deveriam ter análogos mecânicos. No final deste mesmo século, alguns físicos, entre eles, Oliver Heaviside e Heinrich Hertz, reformularam a teoria de Maxwell, abandonando a interpretação física dada por Maxwell ao potencial vetor. Neste trabalho, discutimos sinteticamente como se deu esse processo de mudança. Para isso, realizamos um estudo histórico pautado em fontes primárias e secundárias sobre o assunto e, por último, investigamos a abordagem usada em alguns livros-texto de eletromagnetismo no ensino deste conceito. Apresentamos ainda, indícios de que o abandono da interpretação física ao conceito de potencial vetor esteve associado a posturas filosóficas e metodológicas, bem como ao interesse em solucionar problemas práticos, na recente indústria de cabos telegráficos na Grã-Bretanha do século XIX.

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Helmholtz and the British scientific elite: From force conservation to energy conservation

Notes and Records the Royal Society journal of the history of science ◽

10.1098/rsnr.2011.0044 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 66 (1) ◽

pp. 55-68 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

David Cahan

Keyword(s):

Conservation Of Energy ◽

Hermann Von Helmholtz ◽

James Clerk Maxwell ◽

Scientific Elite ◽

Close Relationship ◽

William Thomson ◽

The Law ◽

James Thomson ◽

John Tyndall ◽

Michael Faraday

This article discusses the close relationship that developed during the 1850s and 1860s between Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–94), one of the leading German scientists during the second half of the nineteenth century, and the British scientific elite generally. It focuses especially on the importance of the law of conservation of energy to both sides of that relationship as the law emerged and became popularized. In presenting this Anglo-German relationship, the article relates Helmholtz's friendships or acquaintanceships with numerous members of the British elite, including William Thomson, John Tyndall, Henry Enfield Roscoe, Michael Faraday, Edward Sabine, Henry Bence Jones, George Gabriel Stokes, James Clerk Maxwell, Peter Guthrie Tait, George Biddell Airy and James Thomson. It suggests that the building of these social relationships helped create a sense of trust between Helmholtz and the British elite that, in turn, eased the revision of the understanding of the law of conservation of force into that of energy and consolidated its acceptance, and that laid the personal groundwork for Helmholtz's future promotion of Maxwell's electromagnetic theory in Germany and for Anglo-German agreements in electrical metrology.

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We’re Having a Field Day!

The Cosmic Mystery Tour ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198831860.003.0003 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 18-26

Author(s):

Nicholas Mee

Keyword(s):

Field Theory ◽

Quantum Field Theory ◽

General Relativity ◽

Electromagnetic Field ◽

Electromagnetic Wave ◽

Direct Contact ◽

Quantum Field ◽

James Clerk Maxwell ◽

Richard Feynman ◽

Michael Faraday

Space is permeated by fields, such as the electromagnetic field, that transmit forces between objects that are not in direct contact. This idea was first devised by Michael Faraday and its mathematical realization for the electromagnetic field was achieved by James Clerk Maxwell. Light is an electromagnetic wave that ripples through the electromagnetic field. Richard Feynman invented a diagrammatic representation of the interactions between particles that plays an important role in quantum field theory. Maxwell’s theory was the inspiration for Einstein when developing his new theory of gravity. Newton was criticized for suggesting the gravitational force acts between bodies that are not in contact. Einstein resolved this issue when he devised general relativity which is a gravitational field theory.

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Book Reviews: The miller of Sneinton

Notes and Records the Royal Society journal of the history of science ◽

10.1098/rsnr.1994.0035 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 48 (2) ◽

pp. 321-322

Keyword(s):

Marked Contrast ◽

Isaac Newton ◽

James Clerk Maxwell ◽

Local Newspaper ◽

200Th Anniversary ◽

Lay Reader ◽

Lord Kelvin ◽

Michael Faraday ◽

The Way

D.M. Cannell, George Green, Mathematician & Physicist 1793-1841 . Athlone Press, 1993. Pp. xxvi + 265, £35 (hdbk). ISBN-0-485-11433X. Most mathematicians will have used, or at least know of, Green’s Theorem and Green’s functions, but they are probably unaware of the unusual background of their eponymous creator. Green also made pioneering contributions in electricity (where he introduced the term ‘potential’), magnetism, hydrodynamics, elasticity, sound and light. Indeed, the intellectual profundity of his work, albeit encompassed in a mere ten publications, was recognized on the 200th anniversary of his birth, by the dedication of a plaque in Westminster Abbey where his name will be found amongst the greatest British men of science - Isaac Newton, John Frederick Herschel, Michael Faraday, James Clerk Maxwell, Lord Kelvin, George Gabriel Stokes, Lord Rayleigh, Lord Rutherford and J.J. Thomson. All of these had their work recognized during their own lifetime; in marked contrast, George Green, on his death, earned only a modest paragraph in a local newspaper as his sole obituary, and a grave neglected and forgotten for nearly 100 years. There are no portraits or photographs of him, no diaries or working papers, and little in the way of correspondence. Mary Cannell’s book, which is written to interest the lay reader as much as the scientific specialist, provides the background to Green’s unusual life and work.

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