Physics · 1865
A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field
James Clerk Maxwell
Overview
Maxwell unified electricity, magnetism, and light into a single field theory. From his set of equations he showed that electromagnetic disturbances propagate as waves at the speed of light — concluding that light itself is an electromagnetic phenomenon.
Unified electromagnetism and optics; the basis of all electrical and radio technology.
Key findings
Methods
A mathematical field theory built on the concept of the electromagnetic field as a dynamical system, combining experimental laws of electricity and magnetism into coupled differential equations and deriving a wave equation from them.
Keywords
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