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Kinda hard to beat Whittaker's "A History of the Theories of Aether & Electricity" -the more recent things tell a rather more linear story than the actual histo
by scottlocklin 8y ago
Kinda hard to beat Whittaker's "A History of the Theories of Aether & Electricity" -the more recent things tell a rather more linear story than the actual history. There were some crazy ideas, most of which were quasi-mechanical or fluid mechanical.
- twtw 8y agoThanks for the recommendation. The book I referenced discusses both the early hydrodynamic model maxwell used for electrostatics and a rather bizarre (and intriguing) mechanical model involving flywheels and gears. Can't comment on whether it linearizes the history though.
- scottlocklin 8y agoThese ideas were not original to Maxwell; virtually ALL of the pre-Maxwell theories of electricity and magnetism looked like that. The first chunk of Whittaker's book is all about these mostly forgotten ideas and the cool people who tought them up. It's really a classic.