Some comments on Harmuth and his critics [propagation of pulses in a lossy medium]

A series of controversial papers on the propagation of pulses in a lossy medium by H.F. Harmuth (1986) have appeared in Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility. Many negative comments have appeared subsequently that betray a limited understanding of the points Harmuth is trying to make. Part of this difficulty lies in the method Harmuth chooses to present his results, namely the Fourier transform instead of the Laplace transform. The authors develop the formalism necessary to solve the propagation of pulses in a lossy medium for both the magnetic and electric fields using the Laplace transformation and generalized functions in order to clarify the strengths and weaknesses of the points Harmuth is trying to make