No label defined (Q4490830)

The book presents a synthetic history of electrodynamics, from its beginnings to Einstein's theory of relativity. Three epistemological themes concern this study: the relationship between theoretical and experimental practices; the electrodynamics as a testing ground for various forms of mechanical reductionism, and the communication between different research traditions. The author retraces the evolution of electrodynamics, giving through accounts of crucial episodes such as: Ampère's and Faraday's foundation of the new science of electrodynamics; the emergence of the 1840's two German research traditions, the leaders being Gauss and Weber on the one hand, and Neumann and Kirchhoff on the other; the formation of Maxwell's theory (1873), the genesis of Helmholtz's general framework; Hertz's experiments on production and detection of electromagnetic waves; various approaches to the electrodynamics of moving bodies of the beginning of the 20th century, including Einstein's relativity theory. The author shows how in some cases the available mathematics constrained the conceptual developments while in other cases new physics called for new mathematics.