Oliver Heaviside: The Life, Work, and Times of an Electrical Genius of the Victorian Age - Softcover

Nahin, Paul J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801869099 ISBN 13: 9780801869099

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002

Synopsis

"He was a man who often was incapable of conducting himself properly in the most elementary social interactions. His only continuing contacts with women were limited to his mother, nieces, and housekeepers. He was a man who knew the power of money and desired it, but refused to work for it, preferring to live off the sweat of his family and long-suffering friends, whom he often insulted even as they paid his bills."―from the book

This, then, was Oliver Heaviside, a pioneer of modern electrical theory. Born into a low social class of Victorian England, Heaviside made advances in mathematics by introducing the operational calculus; in physics, where he formulated the modern-day expressions of Maxwell's Laws of electromagnetism; and in electrical engineering, through his duplex equations. Now available in paperback with a new preface by the author, this acclaimed biography will appeal to historians of technology and science, as well as to scientists and engineers who wish to learn more about this remarkable man.

About this title

About the Author:

Paul J. Nahin is a professor of electrical engineering at the University of New Hampshire. He is the author of Time Machines, An Imaginary Tale and The Science of Radio.

Review:

"How was it that a man who had no formal education after the age of sixteen could apply operational calculus to technological problems in a way that other eminent mathematical physicists had not? Why was a charged layer of the ionosphere named after him? The best way to gain an insight into the life and work of this eccentric genius will be to delve into this delightful book."

(International Journal of Electrical Engineering Educators)

"A good book by a careful, historically minded engineer... A lively, informative narrative of Heaviside's life and work. Nahin has exhaustively resurveyed archives and contemporary sources and is very much at home in historical discussions of Victorian physics."

(Isis)

About this edition

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0801869099
• ISBN 13: 9780801869099
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 360