Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field: How Two Men Revolutionized Physics

Nancy Forbes · Basil Mahon

Jan 2021 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Patrick Lawlor

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10 hr 15 min

Unabridged

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About this audiobook

Two of the boldest and most creative scientists of all time were Michael Faraday (1791-1867) and James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879). This is the story of how these two men-separated in age by forty years-discovered the existence of the electromagnetic field and devised a radically new theory which overturned the strictly mechanical view of the world that had prevailed since Newton's time. The authors, veteran science writers with special expertise in physics and engineering, have created a lively narrative that interweaves rich biographical detail from each man's life with clear explanations of their scientific accomplishments. Faraday was an autodidact, who overcame class prejudice and a lack of mathematical training to become renowned for his acute powers of experimental observation, technological skills, and prodigious scientific imagination. James Clerk Maxwell was highly regarded as one of the most brilliant mathematical physicists of the age. He made an enormous number of advances in his own right. But when he translated Faraday's ideas into mathematical language, thus creating field theory, this unified framework of electricity, magnetism and light became the basis for much of later, twentieth-century physics.

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About the author

Nancy Forbes has written over twenty-five publications in science and technology including Imitation of Life: How Biology Is Inspiring Computing. She has also served as a contributing editor for The Industrial Physicist of the American Institute of Physics, and IEEE's Computing in Science and Engineering.

Basil Mahon is the author of The Forgotten Genius of Oliver Heaviside: A Maverick of Electrical Science and The Man Who Changed Everything: The Life of James Clerk Maxwell. With degrees in engineering and statistics, he was formerly an officer in the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

Patrick Lawlor has recorded over three hundred audiobooks in just about every genre. He has been an Audie Award finalist multiple times and has garnered several AudioFile Earphones Awards, a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award, and many Library Journal and Kirkus starred audio reviews.

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