A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism

by James Clerk Maxwell

Overview

Arguably the most influential nineteenth-century scientist for twentieth-century physics, James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879) demonstrated that electricity, magnetism and light are all manifestations of the same phenomenon: the electromagnetic field. A fellow of Trinity College Cambridge, Maxwell became, in 1871, the first Cavendish Professor of Physics at Cambridge. His famous equations - a set of four partial differential equations that relate the electric and magnetic fields to their sources, charge density and current density - first appeared in fully developed form in his 1873 Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. This two-volume textbook brought together all the experimental and theoretical advances in the field of electricity and magnetism known at the time, and provided a methodical and graduated introduction to electromagnetism. Volume 1 covers the first elements of Maxwell's electromagnetic theory: electrostatics, and electrokinematics, including detailed analyses of electrolysis, conduction in three dimensions, and conduction through heterogeneous media.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108014038
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/24/2010
Series:	Cambridge Library Collection - Physical Sciences
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	484
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

James Clerk Maxwell: In His Own Words — And Others
Dover reprinted Maxwell's Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism in 1954, surely one of the first classics of scientific literature over a thousand pages in length to be given new life and accessibility to students and researchers as a result of the paperback revolution of the 1950s. Matter and Motion followed in 1991 and Theory of Heat in 2001.

Some towering figures in science have to speak for themselves. Such is James Clerk Maxwell (1813–1879), the Scottish physicist and mathematician who formulated the basic equations of classical electromagnetic theory.

In the Author's Own Words:
"We may find illustrations of the highest doctrines of science in games and gymnastics, in traveling by land and by water, in storms of the air and of the sea, and wherever there is matter in motion."

"The 2nd law of thermodynamics has the same degree of truth as the statement that if you throw a tumblerful of water into the sea, you cannot get the same tumblerful of water out again." — James Clerk Maxwell

Critical Acclaim for James Clerk Maxwell:
"From a long view of the history of mankind — seen from, say, ten thousand years from now — there can be little doubt that the most significant event of the 19th century will be judged as Maxwell's discovery of the laws of electrodynamics. The American Civil War will pale into provincial insignificance in comparison with this important scientific event of the same decade." — Richard P. Feynman

"Maxwell's equations have had a greater impact on human history than any ten presidents." — Carl Sagan

Table of Contents

Part III. Magnetism: 1. Elementary theory of magnetism; 2. Magnetic force and magnetic induction; 3. Particular forms of magnets; 4. Induced magnetization; 5. Magnetic problems; 6. Weber's theory of magnetic induction; 7. Magnetic measurements; 8. Terrestrial magnetism; Part IV. Electromagnetism: 1. Electromagnetic force; 2. Mutual action of electric currents; 3. Induction of electric currents; 4. Induction of a current on itself; 5. General equations of dynamics; 6. Application of dynamics to electromagnetism; 7. Electrokinetics; 8. Exploration of the field by means of the secondary circuit; 9. General equations; 10. Dimensions of electric units; 11. Energy and stress; 12. Current-sheets; 13. Parallel currents; 14. Circular currents; 15. Electromagnetic instruments; 16. Electromagnetic observations; 17. Electrical measurement of coefficients of induction; 18. Determination of resistance in electromagnetic measure; 19. Comparison of electrostatic with electromagnetic units; 20. Electromagnetic theory of light; 21. Magnetic action on light; 22. Electric theory of magnetism; 23. Theories of action at a distance; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"If your library does not have copies of the original editions, you should certainly ask them to consider getting these...and you may want one or two for yourself!" MAA Online, April 1999

From the Publisher