Albert Einstein characterized the work of James Clerk Maxwell as the "most profound and the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton." Max Planck went even further, declaring that "he achieved greatness unequalled," and Richard Feynman asserted that "From a long view of the history of mankind — seen from, say, ten thousand years from now — there can be little doubt that the most significant event of the nineteenth century will be judged as Maxwell's discovery of the laws of electrodynamics." Maxwell made numerous other contributions to the advancement of science, but the greatest work of his life was devoted to electricity. An Elementary Treatise on Electricity appeared at a time when very few books on electrical measurements were available to students, and its compact treatment not only elucidates the theory of electricity but also serves to develop electrical ideas in readers' minds. The author describes experiments that demonstrate the principal facts relating an electric charge as a quantity capable of being measured, deductions from these facts, and the exhibition of electrical phenomena. This volume, published posthumously from Maxwell's lecture notes at the Cavendish Laboratory — which he founded at the University of Cambridge — is supplemented by a selection of articles from his landmark book, Electricity and Magnetism. A classic of science, this volume is an eminently suitable text for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students.

James Clerk Maxwell published the Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism in 1873. At his death, six years later, his theory of the electromagnetic field was neither well understood nor widely accepted. By the mid-1890s, however, it was regarded as one of the most fundamental and fruitful of all physical theories. Bruce J. Hunt examines the joint work of a group of young British physicists—G. F. FitzGerald, Oliver Heaviside, and Oliver Lodge—along with a key German contributor, Heinrich Hertz. It was these "Maxwellians" who transformed the fertile but half-finished ideas presented in the Treatise into the concise and powerful system now known as "Maxwell's theory."

Maxwell's Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism brought about what Einstein called "the greatest change in the axiomatic basis of physics since Newton." But Maxwell's aim was never to construct an axiomatic theory. Instead, the Treatise presents an argument which, beginning with the most characteristic electrical and magnetic phenomena, and interpreting them as manifestations of continuous fields of electric and magnetic energy, culminates in Maxwell's theory of light as a wave motion within those fields. The argument of the Treatise is not straightforwardly demon­strative but is a dialectical one that can be challenging to discern among the many topics presented. This book undertakes to extract and expound the principal path of Maxwell's dialectical thinking.

Electricity is all around us: cars, telephones, computers, lights -- the modern world runs entirely on electrons. But what are electrons? How do they behave? How do we control them? This book will show you how to build a battery, detect static electricity and construct a basic current meter, all using common items from your kitchen. Along the way you'll learn about the meaning of "voltage" and "current", what makes an LED work and the difference between AC and DC. The last chapter uses transistors -- the basic building blocks of every computer -- for lots of interesting experiments. With plenty of colorful illustrations, historical stories and an easy, accessible style, "A Kitchen Course in Electricity and Magnetism" will be a great start for budding and amateur scientists who want to learn more about how the world works.