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Oliver Heaviside Wrote Maxwell’s Equations (2013)

61 points by xiler 11y ago

im3w1l 11y ago
Heaviside's name hasn't faded entirely. The step function is named after him.
- db48x 11y ago
  As is the Heaviside Layer, which has even made it into popular culture.
  - java-man 11y ago
    Cats! [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennelly%E2%80%93Heaviside_layer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennelly%E2%80%93Heaviside_lay...
- blevs 11y ago
  And the Heaviside Method [1] for determining coefficients in partial fraction expansion. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaviside_cover-up_method https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaviside_cover-up_method
- rndn 11y ago
  Why don't other basic functions (constant, reciprocal, parabola …) actually have a name as well? I.e. why did Heaviside’s name stick with the step function?
  - chestervonwinch 11y ago
    He apparently invented it [1], or at least popularized it via Laplace transforms for solving differential equations. [1]: http://hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/1984/why-is-the-heaviside-step-function-named-after-heaviside http://hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/1984/why-is-the-heavi...
  - Gibbon1 11y ago
    The step function is about techniques for analyzing discontinuous functions. You can create discontinuous functions by multiplying a normal continuous function by the unit step function. Which was at the time a new thing. It took the mathematical community a long time to get comfortable the techniques. Indeed if you take college math they call it the 'unit step function' in order to avoid referring to it as the Heaviside equation, which is what it's called if you take engineering math. Constants, reciprocals, parabolas have been known since the time of the ancient Greeks or earlier. Classically they are called Conic Sections. There are other types functions that are named after people. Taylor Series and Bessel Functions come to mind (after Brook Taylor and Friedrich Bessel). There are more of course.
  - SilasX 11y ago
    Because it's more fitting to give his name to a function that has a "heavy side".
- analog31 11y ago
  Indeed, and the function has a heavy side. ;-)
jreimers 11y ago
For those interested in the history and mathematical development of Maxwell's Equations as we know them today, Paul J. Nahin's book on Heaviside[1] is a must read. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Oliver-Heaviside-Electrical-Genius-Victorian/dp/0801869099 http://www.amazon.com/Oliver-Heaviside-Electrical-Genius-Vic...
- madengr 11y ago
  Ditto. Good book.
jhallenworld 11y ago
Heaviside was on the mathematician's side of this old debate: http://faculty.poly.edu/~jbain/histlight/readings/83Hunt.pdf http://faculty.poly.edu/~jbain/histlight/readings/83Hunt.pdf He perfected operational calculus for electrical engineering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operational_calculus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operational_calculus Norbert Wiener in 1926: "The brilliant work of Heaviside is purely heuristic, devoid of even the pretense to mathematical rigor. Its operators apply to electric voltages and currents, which may be discontinuous and certainly need not be analytic. For example, the favorite corpus vile on which he tries out his operators is a function which vanishes to the left of the origin and is 1 to the right. This excludes any direct application of the methods of Pincherle… Although Heaviside’s developments have not been justified by the present state of the purely mathematical theory of operators, there is a great deal of what we may call experimental evidence of their validity, and they are very valuable to the electrical engineers. There are cases, however, where they lead to ambiguous or contradictory results..."
- madengr 11y ago
  What about Gibbs? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Gibbs https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Gibbs I thought del operator was his?
  - LoSboccacc 11y ago
    and what about Gauss? the whole field was working or knew about the problem and each other knew the other researches, we just slapped the Maxwell name for recognition as he explained how the stuff worked (pretty much as Einstein equations weren't is own), and in the centuries became 'ownage' - it's interesting however to see how 'legends' form
madengr 11y ago
He invented coax too.
agumonkey 11y ago
side note: they have a page on another not-famous-enough pioneer http://theinstitute.ieee.org/technology-focus/technology-history/first-ieee-milestones-in-india http://theinstitute.ieee.org/technology-focus/technology-his...
xiler 11y ago
He also managed to recognize a relationship between electromagnetism and gravity before Einstein. http://serg.fedosin.ru/Heavisid.htm http://serg.fedosin.ru/Heavisid.htm
dang 2y ago
https://web.archive.org/web/20130607120922/http://theinstitute.ieee.org/technology-focus/technology-history/did-you-know-someone-else-wrote-maxwells-equations https://web.archive.org/web/20130607120922/http://theinstitu...

61 points by xiler 11y ago

im3w1l 11y ago

Heaviside's name hasn't faded entirely. The step function is named after him.

db48x 11y ago
As is the Heaviside Layer, which has even made it into popular culture.
- java-man 11y ago
  Cats! [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennelly%E2%80%93Heaviside_layer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennelly%E2%80%93Heaviside_lay...
blevs 11y ago
And the Heaviside Method [1] for determining coefficients in partial fraction expansion. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaviside_cover-up_method https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaviside_cover-up_method
rndn 11y ago
Why don't other basic functions (constant, reciprocal, parabola …) actually have a name as well? I.e. why did Heaviside’s name stick with the step function?
- chestervonwinch 11y ago
  He apparently invented it [1], or at least popularized it via Laplace transforms for solving differential equations. [1]: http://hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/1984/why-is-the-heaviside-step-function-named-after-heaviside http://hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/1984/why-is-the-heavi...
- Gibbon1 11y ago
  The step function is about techniques for analyzing discontinuous functions. You can create discontinuous functions by multiplying a normal continuous function by the unit step function. Which was at the time a new thing. It took the mathematical community a long time to get comfortable the techniques. Indeed if you take college math they call it the 'unit step function' in order to avoid referring to it as the Heaviside equation, which is what it's called if you take engineering math. Constants, reciprocals, parabolas have been known since the time of the ancient Greeks or earlier. Classically they are called Conic Sections. There are other types functions that are named after people. Taylor Series and Bessel Functions come to mind (after Brook Taylor and Friedrich Bessel). There are more of course.
- SilasX 11y ago
  Because it's more fitting to give his name to a function that has a "heavy side".
analog31 11y ago
Indeed, and the function has a heavy side. ;-)

jreimers 11y ago

For those interested in the history and mathematical development of Maxwell's Equations as we know them today, Paul J. Nahin's book on Heaviside[1] is a must read. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Oliver-Heaviside-Electrical-Genius-Victorian/dp/0801869099 http://www.amazon.com/Oliver-Heaviside-Electrical-Genius-Vic...

madengr 11y ago
Ditto. Good book.

jhallenworld 11y ago

Heaviside was on the mathematician's side of this old debate: http://faculty.poly.edu/~jbain/histlight/readings/83Hunt.pdf http://faculty.poly.edu/~jbain/histlight/readings/83Hunt.pdf He perfected operational calculus for electrical engineering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operational_calculus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operational_calculus Norbert Wiener in 1926: "The brilliant work of Heaviside is purely heuristic, devoid of even the pretense to mathematical rigor. Its operators apply to electric voltages and currents, which may be discontinuous and certainly need not be analytic. For example, the favorite corpus vile on which he tries out his operators is a function which vanishes to the left of the origin and is 1 to the right. This excludes any direct application of the methods of Pincherle… Although Heaviside’s developments have not been justified by the present state of the purely mathematical theory of operators, there is a great deal of what we may call experimental evidence of their validity, and they are very valuable to the electrical engineers. There are cases, however, where they lead to ambiguous or contradictory results..."

madengr 11y ago
What about Gibbs? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Gibbs https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Gibbs I thought del operator was his?
- LoSboccacc 11y ago
  and what about Gauss? the whole field was working or knew about the problem and each other knew the other researches, we just slapped the Maxwell name for recognition as he explained how the stuff worked (pretty much as Einstein equations weren't is own), and in the centuries became 'ownage' - it's interesting however to see how 'legends' form

madengr 11y ago

He invented coax too.

agumonkey 11y ago

side note: they have a page on another not-famous-enough pioneer http://theinstitute.ieee.org/technology-focus/technology-history/first-ieee-milestones-in-india http://theinstitute.ieee.org/technology-focus/technology-his...

xiler 11y ago

He also managed to recognize a relationship between electromagnetism and gravity before Einstein. http://serg.fedosin.ru/Heavisid.htm http://serg.fedosin.ru/Heavisid.htm

dang 2y ago

https://web.archive.org/web/20130607120922/http://theinstitute.ieee.org/technology-focus/technology-history/did-you-know-someone-else-wrote-maxwells-equations https://web.archive.org/web/20130607120922/http://theinstitu...