Overview

Advances in nineteenth-century concepts of electromagnetism moved rapidly from experimental novelties to prominent and practical applications. At the start of the century gas and oil lamps burned in homes, but by the end of the century electric light bulbs illuminated an increasing number of electrified homes. By mid-century (1865) a telegraph cable connected the United States and England. Yet, within a few decades, even this magnificent technological achievement was eclipsed by advancements in electromagnetic theory that spurred the discovery and development of the radio waves that sparked a twentieth-century communications revolution. So rapid were the advances in electromagnetism that by the end of the nineteenth century high energy electromagnetic radiation in the form of x rays was used to diagnose injury. The mathematical unification of nineteenth century experimental work in electromagnetism profoundly shaped the relativity and quantum theories of twentieth-century...