Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field  (English, Hardcover, Forbes Nancy)

Discover how two men discovered the electromagnetic field, and laid the groundwork for the revolutionary breakthroughs which led to the advancements of the last century in the story of Faraday, Maxwell and the Electromagnetic Field.

Summary of the Book

If you had a chance to meet them, you’d have been astonished that two men, so far apart in age, would work together to change the world. Michael Faraday and James Clark Maxwell discovered the existence of the electromagnetic field and together formulated the groundbreaking new theory which shattered the purely mechanical bias the world boasted until their discovery. They overturned how the world perceived electricity and current, and paved the way for future generations to understand how to use electricity to make the world work for them. Faraday was an uneducated physicist, more of a practical experimenter than mathematician. His theories were innovative but lacked the mathematical proof required to set his name in stone. He almost failed, until he met Maxwell, 40 years his junior yet the mathematical genius Faraday never was. Maxwell translated Faraday’s ideas into mathematical expressions, creating field theory and managed to carve his name and Faraday’s name into history.

About the Authors

Nancy Forbes is a science writer and the author of Imitation of Life: How Biology Is Inspiring Computing. She has also worked as an editor for The Industrial Physicist of the American Institute of Physics, and IEEE's Computing in Science and Engineering. Currently a consultant for the United States Department of Defence, she discovered her love of physics when she returned to education at the age of 28, following up her degree in Spanish with an education in Physics.

Basil Mahon is a British writer and the author of The Man Who Changed Everything: The Life of James Clerk Maxwell and Oliver Heaviside: Maverick Mastermind of Electricity. A former officer in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, he also worked with the British Government Statistical Service.