• DocumentCode
    1686725
  • 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
  • Volume
    1
  • fYear
    2001
  • Firstpage
    14
  • 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;
  • fLanguage
    English
  • Publisher
    ieee
  • Conference_Titel
    Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, 2001. IEEE
  • Conference_Location
    Boston, MA, USA
  • Print_ISBN
    0-7803-7070-8
  • Type

    conf

  • DOI
    10.1109/APS.2001.958782
  • Filename
    958782