Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field: How Two Men Revolutionized Physics by Nancy Forbes, Basil Mahon

In 1820, Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell revolutionized the field of physics with their in-depth exploration of how electricity and magnetism interact. This exploration would later become known as the Electromagnetic Field Theory. Through diligent study, experimentation, and collaboration, Faraday and Maxwell created a number of groundbreaking discoveries such as the laws of induction, lines of force, and a mathematical framework to explain the behavior of electrical and magnetic fields. This groundbreaking work laid the groundwork for numerous advancements in physics, engineering, and technology, and established the foundation for future scientists to build upon and further expand the understanding of electromagnetism.

The life and work of Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell serves as a testament to the power of collaboration and diligent study to push the boundaries of knowledge and the natural world. Faraday was born in 1791 in London, England, and showed a talent and passionate interest in science from a young age. Study of electricity in particular interested Faraday, and in 1812 he was offered and accepted a position as laboratory assistant to renowned British chemist Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. Faraday’s work with Davy exposed him to the most advanced scientific knowledge of the day and provided him with the opportunity to further explore the mysteries electricity and magnetism.

In 1831, Faraday performed a pioneering experiment that resulted in his seminal discovery of the law of induction and proposed a mechanism by which electricity and magnetism are related. The same year, Faraday teamed up with Maxwell to collaborate on and expand upon Faraday’s original experiments. He coined the term Faraday’s Lines of Force to describe an unseen force affecting the arrangement of charged particles within an electric or magnetic field. Faraday also developed the concept of fields in which forces acted between two or more bodies by their mutual presence in space, several decades before the formulation of the modern field of force equations.

James Clerk Maxwell was born in Scotland in 1831 and attended the University of Cambridge from 1849 to 1853, where he studied physics, mathematics, and mechanical engineering. He advanced Faraday’s theories on electricity and magnetism, proposing that an electric field and a magnetic field are just different aspects of a single field, the electromagnetic field. In 1865, he described four differential equations that govern the behavior of electromagnetic fields, which came to be known as Maxwell’s Equations. Later that year, Maxwell proposed his electromagnetic wave equation, which predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves.

Through their work, Faraday and Maxwell revolutionized physics. They provided the foundation for the development of the electromagnetic field theory, which sought to explain the behavior of electric and magnetic fields as a single unified concept. Their collaboration helped to establish a framework to explain and predict the behavior of electricity and magnetism, and laid the groundwork for future advances in physics such as the discovery of radio waves and the invention of the TV, the transformer, and other electric machines.

Their discoveries continue to be relevant today and are used in a wide range of industries, from the automotive industry to telecommunications. The work of Faraday and Maxwell still inspires and challenges scientists today to continue expanding our understanding of electricity and magnetism and to question and push the boundaries of knowledge.