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Early History of Electromagnetic Waves

Maxwell's 1864 equations conjectured that light is a transverse electromagnetic wave, but he did not discuss generating or detecting electromagnetic waves. It took Hertz's experiments in the late 1800s, which confirmed Maxwell's theory, to discover electromagnetic waves. Hertz and scientists like FitzGerald, Lodge, and Heaviside ("Maxwellians") expanded and clarified Maxwell's ideas and helped make them understandable, but historical facts do not support the view that Hertz was significantly influenced by the Maxwellians in his epoch-making findings and contributions related to electromagnetic waves.

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50 views1 page

Early History of Electromagnetic Waves

Maxwell's 1864 equations conjectured that light is a transverse electromagnetic wave, but he did not discuss generating or detecting electromagnetic waves. It took Hertz's experiments in the late 1800s, which confirmed Maxwell's theory, to discover electromagnetic waves. Hertz and scientists like FitzGerald, Lodge, and Heaviside ("Maxwellians") expanded and clarified Maxwell's ideas and helped make them understandable, but historical facts do not support the view that Hertz was significantly influenced by the Maxwellians in his epoch-making findings and contributions related to electromagnetic waves.

Uploaded by

yassinebouazzi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Maxwell, Hertz, the Maxwellians, and the early history of

electromagnetic waves
Sengupta, D.L. Sarkar, T.K.
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 that 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." The early history of electromagnetic waves, up to
the death of Hertz in 1894, is briefly discussed. The work of Hertz and the Maxwellians is
briefly reviewed in the context of electromagnetic waves. 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.".

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