Related papers: James Clerk Maxwell's class of 1856/57
In the scientific literature the equation $Q=\{Q\}[Q]$ is frequently quoted, where $Q$ denotes a quantity, $\{Q\}$ a numerical value, and $[Q]$ a unit. During the last years some experts claimed, that this equation is due to James Clerk…
During the last five years of his life, 1874-79, James Clerk Maxwell was absorbed in editing the electrical researches of Henry Cavendish, performed 100 years earlier. This endeavour is often assumed to be a work of duty to the Cavendish…
In 1861, James Clerk Maxwell unified electricity, magnetism and light. Today physicists are trying to unify everthing else theoretically as well as experimentally with a view to develop a fundamental theory.
James Clerk Maxwell unknowingly discovered a correct relativistic, quantum theory for the light quantum, forty-three years before Einstein postulated the photon's existence. In this theory, the usual Maxwell field is the quantum wave…
In this article we present pictorially the foundation of differential geometry which is a crucial tool for multiple areas of physics, notably general and special relativity, but also mechanics, thermodynamics and solving differential…
Using Maxwell's mental imagery of a tube of fluid motion of an imaginary fluid, we derive his equations $\operatorname{curl} \mathbf{E} = -\frac{\partial \mathbf{B}}{\partial t}$, $\operatorname{curl} \mathbf{H} = \frac{\partial…
In 1861, Maxwell derived two of his equations of electromagnetism by modelling a magnetic line of force as a `molecular vortex' in a fluid-like medium. Later, in 1980, Berry and colleagues conducted experiments on a `phase vortex', a wave…
In 1877 James Clerk Maxwell and his student Donald MacAlister refined Henry Cavendish's 1773 null experiment demonstrating the absence of electricity inside a charged conductor. This null result was a mathematical prediction of the inverse…
Maxwell's mature presentation of his equations emphasized the unity of electromagnetism and mechanics, subsuming both as "dynamical systems". That intuition of unity has proved both fruitful, as a source of pregnant concepts, and broadly…
Textbooks play a fundamental role in teaching and learning in school science classrooms. In this paper we investigate the presentation of the nature of the electromagnetic field in a dozen of the world's most popular introductory university…
The main purpose of this article is to disseminate among a wide audience of physicists a known result, which is available since a couple of years to the \emph{cognoscenti} of differential forms on manifolds; namely, that charge conservation…
Maxwell's equations describe the relation of charge and electric force almost perfectly even though electrons and permanent charge were not in his equations, as he wrote them. For Maxwell, all charge depended on electric field. Charge was…
This paper suggests an axiomatic approach to Maxwell's equations. The basis of this approach is a theorem formulated for two sets of functions localized in space and time. If each set satisfies a continuity equation then the theorem…
We will display the fundamental structure of classical electrodynamics. Starting from the axioms of (1) electric charge conservation, (2) the existence of a Lorentz force density, and (3) magnetic flux conservation, we will derive Maxwell's…
Maxwell equations (Faraday and Ampere-Maxwell laws) can be presented as a three component equation in a way similar to the two component neutrino equation. However, in this case, the electric and magnetic Gauss's laws can not be derived…
Charges are everywhere because most atoms are charged. Chemical bonds are formed by electrons with their charge. Charges move and interact according to Maxwell's equations in space and in atoms where the equations of electrodynamics are…
Due to the advent of Quantum Mechanics' 100th anniversary in 2025, we wrote this review paper in order to present a discussion that addresses the foundations of this theory. And since the creation of this Mechanics and other quantum…
A thoughtless treatment of Maxwell's equations can lead to the interpretation of the existence of a causal relationship between their different terms and, therefore, that an electric field that varies in time generates a magnetic one and…
In 1900 Lord Kelvin identified two problems for 19th century physics, two "clouds" as he puts it: the relative motion of the ether with respect to massive objects, and Maxwell-Boltzmann's theorem on the equipartition of energy. These issues…
Barriers to women's education and employment in Europe and the U.S. in the nineteenth century made it unlikely that any women would be among the few physicists whose ideas are taught in high school and college courses. This paper explores…