The Impact of Socioeconomic Factors on the Development of Electromagnetic theory

Transcription

1 The Impact of Socioeconomic Factors on the Development of Electromagnetic theory A Case Study of the Lives and Works of Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell By: Marcus Elia, Buddy Phipps, Andrew Roberts For: INTD 220, History of Physical Sciences Patron: Dr. James McLean

2 In its early development, electromagnetic theory went through several distinct periods of growth, each marked by the work of individual scientists; most notably Michael Faraday and James Maxwell. It is our contention that this passing of the torch from one to the next was neither the result of pure happenstance nor the solely the outcome demanded by the natural gifts of these scientists. Rather, we contend that this method of development was imposed by the effects of socioeconomic factors in their scientific careers. Michael Faraday was born in 1791 to a blacksmith and his wife (MacDonald). As a member of the working class he had a limited education, but was fortunate enough to become an apprentice for a bookbinder during his teenage years. This allowed him access to literature and gave him the opportunity to learn basics of science. Faraday quickly became enthralled with chemistry, and set up many small experiments in the back of his workplace with any materials he could find. Faraday had the good fortune of having the opportunity to attend a number of scientific lectures. After attending a series of lectures by Humphry Davy, Faraday was moved to send Davy a 300 page manuscript of his notes and thoughts on science. Davy was impressed to such a degree that he offered Faraday the opportunity to work in his lab. Faraday made such a good impression with his work that Davy offered him a paid position as his assistant after his current assistant was fired. He used this position to the fullest, receiving opportunities for advancement that took him to the top of the Royal Institution and even into the Royal Society. This advancement was directly caused by his proven abilities as a scientist. Faraday is best remembered for his triumph in 1831, when he discovered electromagnetic induction. However, his work had no mathematical theory to support it. Lacking the rigorous education of later scientists who brought credibility to his discoveries, he could do nothing more than physical experiments. In an 1822 letter to the also famous André-Marie Ampere, he stated I am

3 unfortunate in a want to mathematical knowledge and the power of entering with facility any abstract reasoning. I am obliged to feel my way by facts placed closely together. While his lack of mathematics may have been a weakness, his awareness of the weakness was a serious strength. Faraday went on in the letter to say attending too closely to experiment has somewhat fettered my powers of reasoning I cannot help comparing myself now and then to a timid navigator who though he might boldly and safely steer across a bay is afraid to leave sight of the shore, (James ). Faraday refused to take the predictions of theory on faith. For him, experimentation would always come first, and theories could only be trusted to the extent that they agreed with experimentation (Forbes and Mahon 23). By his incredible intuition, he was one of the first to model electric and magnetic fields with lines of force that existed independent of any medium. This was in total contrast to the prevailing theories on electricity and magnetism, which had no concept of forces extending through space. But without the mathematical proof, the scientific community rejected his (mostly correct) ideas until later in the century (Thompson ). Despite this weakness, Faraday had a reputation for being a superb lecturer. His uneducated background made him sympathetic to the mindset of those uninitiated in the sciences, enabling him to present complex theories in a manner that his middle class audiences could comprehend. Neither his popularity nor his success as an experimentalist were enough to advance his theory. For that, he needed a mathematician. Enter James Clerk Maxwell. Born in Edinburgh forty years after Faraday, Maxwell s adolescence was one of relative privilege. His father was a lawyer by trade but a laird by inheritance, meaning that James grew up in comfort on a rural estate in Galloway, Scotland. He began his fifteen year education at the age of nine, when he was sent to the prestigious Edinburgh Academy (Forbes and Mahon 131). Two years later, his father sent him to Edinburgh

4 University to finish his general education, which was followed by a degree in mathematics at Cambridge. There, he truly came into his own as an academic, especially in the field of mathematics. His performance on the notoriously hard Tripos exams during his fourth year cemented his place as a first class mathematician, and proved to be a boon to the scientific community. After his graduation from Cambridge, he spent the next two years pursuing his own scientific interests there as a fellow. It was then that he first began to delve into the world of electricity and magnetism. During these years, Maxwell first encountered Faraday s Experimental Researches in Electricity. He was deeply impressed by the experimental rigor and skepticism that Faraday conveyed in his writing, and eventually came to agree with his theories on lines of force, (Maxwell 2:176). Faraday s work contained no mathematical equations; a clear opportunity for Maxwell to apply mathematics to Faraday s ideas in his 1855 paper, named On Faraday s Lines of Force. This first version of his theory was not meant to represent the physical world, but it did allow him to derive the accepted equations for electrostatic and magnetic forces with a mechanical model. This was an incredible step, one that Faraday never could have taken with his lack of formal education. At the time it seemed to simply be a mathematical exercise that yielded the same results as the commonly accepted theory, but it would prove to be the first step in Maxwell s revolutionary thought process. Throughout the next eight years, Maxwell completely rebuilt his electromagnetic theory twice and published two more papers on the subject. During this time period, he finished his fellowship and obtained a professorship in the natural sciences at Marischal College, Aberdeen. It wouldn t be until he began his next professorship at King s College in 1860 that he returned to his electromagnetic theory. What s truly remarkable is that Maxwell came back to the topic after

5 six years and nearly started from scratch. He quickly published a revised theory, set forth in his 1862 paper On Physical Lines of Force. Like the first iteration, it mathematically replicated the known equations of electric and magnetic forces. What set this theory apart was its prediction of waves that travel through the electromagnetic medium at the measured speed of light. Despite its astonishing results, the model was too ungainly and strange to be widely accepted. In the words of authors Nancy Forbes and Basil Mahon, Probably not even Maxwell recognized the full measure of his achievement. (Forbes and Mahon 197). Shortly after Maxwell published his second paper on electromagnetic theory, he set to work on a mathematical tour de force to create his final iteration. He was able to do this using the mathematics of Joseph Lagrange, and the entirely new idea of dynamic electric and magnetic fields (Forbes and Mahon). This was the culmination of Faraday s intuitive lines of force and Maxwell s mathematical genius. In this way, Maxwell s theory described all of the known experimental and mathematical phenomena of electromagnetism, but also connected the topic with light. His 1864 paper A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field and his 1873, textbook-length Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism served to lay the groundwork for the modern theory of electromagnetism. Sadly, it was not until after his death in 1879 that his theory gained traction, such was its complexity and foresight. Maxwell had finally unified the intuition of Faraday with his mathematical genius, but both men were too far ahead of their peers to be lauded in their lifetimes. The contrast between Faraday and Maxwell is easy to draw from a socioeconomic perspective. In Faraday, we have the uneducated working class man who once declared that, were it up to him, he would never receive a title (Thompson ). Maxwell, by contrast, was the son of a Scottish Laird; receiving the best education that money could buy. The effect on their careers is

6 similarly easy to see; Faraday worked as an experimentalist and theorized in his spare time, giving numerous lectures, while Maxwell spent his entire career with professorships. The effect that these circumstances had on their theorizing requires a touch more analysis, but is still fairly straightforward. Michael Faraday had to beat the odds to be involved with science at all. He didn t just have to earn every opportunity he was given, he had to have a stroke of luck, like Humphry Davy being given the authority to find a replacement for a recently fired assistant. Even after he got in, he had to prove himself at every turn. As a result, Faraday was relentless in his experimenting and theorizing, feeling the constant need to have an explanation for every phenomena he encountered that was consistent with the other theories he had adopted. The result was a conceptual view unrivaled in his day, which seems to have gone so far as to include a wave theory of light. This concept-driven mindset and understanding of the common man s perspective made him a highly popular lecturer, but could only advance his science so far. Faraday repeatedly expressed his frustration at being unable to work the math to demonstrate his theories with proofs, or to express them in the precise language of science. Maxwell s background made him the perfect person to take up the task of expressing and developing Faraday s theories with mathematical precision. While his highly mathematical mind made him an ineffective lecturer, Maxwell s talents were well suited for advancing Faraday s work. His education, in addition to giving him the mathematical tools for the job, also provided him with the kind of steady work which came with ample leisure time, enabling Maxwell to pursue the advancement of electromagnetic theory with minimal outside interruptions or concerns.

7 Michael Faraday had a background that made him detail oriented, fiercely conceptual, and skeptical of theory. This combined with his natural aptitude to enable him to create a conceptual model for electromagnetic theory, and gave him the skills and drive to explain it in a way that could be comprehended by people with little to no scientific knowledge or training. But the same background ensured that he could never support it mathematically and, therefore, never get the theory accepted by modern science. James Maxwell had a background that granted him exceptional education and spare time, and insured that he would never fear rejection by his colleagues. This combined with his natural aptitude to enable him to create advanced mathematical theories of extraordinarily complex nature. But his background left him lacking the tools to explain these theories and what they meant in a way that was accessible, even to accomplished scientists and mathematicians. Furthermore, he lacked the drive to explain, finding this to be of little consequence when compared with the perfection of the theories or the development of new ones. As result, the same socioeconomic factors that helped Faraday and Maxwell achieve such success in the ways that they did caused them to need someone of the opposite background to complete their project, to bring electromagnetic theory into the realm of usable and accepted science.

8 Bibliography Forbes, Nancy, and Basil Mahon. Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field: How Two Men Revolutionized Physics. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, Print. James, Frank, A. J. L., ed. The Correspondence of Michael Faraday. 6 vols. London: Institution of Engineering and Technology, Thompson, Sylvanus P. Michael Faraday, His Life and Work. London: Cassell, Tyndall, John. Faraday as a Discoverer. London: Longmans, Green, Campbell, Lewis, and William Garnett. The Life of James Clerk Maxwell. London: Macmillan, Second edition published We have used the online version by Sonnet Software (second edition 1999), available at accessed April 5, Maxwell, James Clerk. A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. 3rd ed. Oxford: Clarendon, Reprinted by Oxford University Press First editions published MacDonald, D. K. C. Faraday, Maxwell, and Kelvin. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor, P