Title :
Maxwell, Hertz, the Maxwellians and the early history of electromagnetic waves
Author :
Sengupta, D.L. ; Sarkar, T.K.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci., Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Abstract :
In 1864 Maxwell conjectured from his famous equations that light is a transverse electromagnetic wave. Maxwell\´s conjecture does not imply that he believed light could be generated electromagnetically; in fact, he was silent about electromagnetic waves and their generation and detection. It took almost a quarter of a century before Hertz discovered electromagnetic waves and his brilliant experiments confirmed Maxwell\´s theory. Maxwell\´s ideas and equations were expanded, modified and made understandable by the efforts of Hertz, FitzGerald, Lodge and Heaviside, the last three being referred to as the Maxwellians. It is found that historical facts do not support the views proposed by some in the past that Hertz\´s epoch making findings and contributions were "significantly influenced by the Maxwellians".
Keywords :
Maxwell equations; electromagnetic waves; history; light; EM waves history; FitzGerald; Heaviside; Hertz; Lodge; Maxwell; Maxwell´s equations; Maxwell´s theory; Maxwellians; electromagnetic waves detection; electromagnetic waves generation; electromagnetic waves history; electromagnetic waves reception; electromagnetic waves transmission; light; radio; Electromagnetic fields; Electromagnetic scattering; History; Laboratories; Magnetic fields; Maxwell equations; Modems; Partial differential equations; Production;
Conference_Titel :
Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, 2001. IEEE
Conference_Location :
Boston, MA, USA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-7070-8
DOI :
10.1109/APS.2001.958782