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Yeah, Murdoch's death was a real tragedy, he died far too young. When one takes a moment to look one finds that there are far too many brilliant minds that fal

Yeah, Murdoch's death was a real tragedy, he died far too young. When one takes a moment to look one finds that there are far too many brilliant minds that fall into this misfit category. Often they are their own worst enemy and the world doesn't respond kindly to the fact. Another worth noting is Oliver Heaviside. He's almost forgotten these days and much of the fact was of his own making (his name really should be more prominent). Yet he reformulated Maxwell's equations into the four that we know and use today; he gave us coaxial cable, figured out impedance matching on telephony lines, essentially invented vector calculus (along with Josiah Willard Gibbs who did so independently on the US side of the Atlantic), and much, much more. Essentially, Heaviside put the finishing touches on mathematics and classical electromagnetic theory just in time and ready for the quantum mob to take over. That said, he had little idea how to handle the scientific establishment and he was always the outsider. It's worth taking a moment to read his Wiki bio: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Heaviside https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Heaviside Another tragic case is this damn, damn stupid boy (he was hardly more than one and clearly acted like one): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89variste_Galois https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89variste_Galois Galois was dead at the age of just 20 through his own utter stupidity. To have such a great mind to leave the planet at this age is almost incalculable - in fact, he died 15 years younger than did Mozart (and we continually lament his death at such a young age).

dredmorbius 6y ago
I'd heard of Heaviside, but only recently got the beginnings of an appreciation for what he did and who he was through a series of YouTube videos by a retired, decidedly eccentric, but so far as I can tell largely legit retired GE electrical engineer, Eric Dollard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiDnheGvXRA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiDnheGvXRA (My own assessment abilities are limited here, though spot-checking so far has confirmed statements and content.)
- hilbert42 6y ago
  That's interesting, I'd not seen that video before. I have the excellent book and bio on Heaviside titled Oliver Heaviside: The Life, Work, and Times of an Electrical Genius of the Victorian Age by Paul J. Nahin. I'm not suggesting you buy it but it's a good reference to look up when you're next in a library. Also, it's a very worthwhile exercise to download copies of Heaviside's books from the Internet Archive (there are about five or so and several come in multiple volumes). They're all out of copyright so they won't cost anything. I'm not suggesting you read them through seriously but if you just peruse them for a while then you'll soon learn what a genius he was. Within minutes, you'll get the message that he doesn't abide fools well and that he was not averse to making side comments in his textbooks (actually I find that aspect of his writing interesting because you get the gist of how he's thinking), but overall you'll be taken aback at his rigor. These books were written around 120-140 years ago, if you put them under a modern cover and you weren't overly famimiar with the subject then you could be forgiven for thinking that they were written yesterday. Remember Heaviside also invented vector calculus and much of the modern electrical terminology such as impedance, conductance, admittance, permeability and permittivity, etc. It's amazing, but these terms are all now commonplace in our testbooks. I cannot recall of any other person who has introduced so many new scientific terms to science and engineering as Heaviside did. You're correct, he was eccentric especially towards the end of his life. I reckon I'd likely have had an argument with him within minutes of meeting him but that's irrelevant here, it's the content of technical mind that we're interested in. Remember, he wasn't the only genius with an awkward temperament, from many accounts Issac Newton was likely much worse - and often petty minded into the bargin.

dredmorbius 6y ago

I'd heard of Heaviside, but only recently got the beginnings of an appreciation for what he did and who he was through a series of YouTube videos by a retired, decidedly eccentric, but so far as I can tell largely legit retired GE electrical engineer, Eric Dollard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiDnheGvXRA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiDnheGvXRA (My own assessment abilities are limited here, though spot-checking so far has confirmed statements and content.)

hilbert42 6y ago
That's interesting, I'd not seen that video before. I have the excellent book and bio on Heaviside titled Oliver Heaviside: The Life, Work, and Times of an Electrical Genius of the Victorian Age by Paul J. Nahin. I'm not suggesting you buy it but it's a good reference to look up when you're next in a library. Also, it's a very worthwhile exercise to download copies of Heaviside's books from the Internet Archive (there are about five or so and several come in multiple volumes). They're all out of copyright so they won't cost anything. I'm not suggesting you read them through seriously but if you just peruse them for a while then you'll soon learn what a genius he was. Within minutes, you'll get the message that he doesn't abide fools well and that he was not averse to making side comments in his textbooks (actually I find that aspect of his writing interesting because you get the gist of how he's thinking), but overall you'll be taken aback at his rigor. These books were written around 120-140 years ago, if you put them under a modern cover and you weren't overly famimiar with the subject then you could be forgiven for thinking that they were written yesterday. Remember Heaviside also invented vector calculus and much of the modern electrical terminology such as impedance, conductance, admittance, permeability and permittivity, etc. It's amazing, but these terms are all now commonplace in our testbooks. I cannot recall of any other person who has introduced so many new scientific terms to science and engineering as Heaviside did. You're correct, he was eccentric especially towards the end of his life. I reckon I'd likely have had an argument with him within minutes of meeting him but that's irrelevant here, it's the content of technical mind that we're interested in. Remember, he wasn't the only genius with an awkward temperament, from many accounts Issac Newton was likely much worse - and often petty minded into the bargin.