Electrodynamics from Ampère to Einstein by Olivier Darrigol (PDF)

Description

Three quarters of a century elapsed between Ampère’s definition of electrodynamics and Einstein’s reform of the concepts of space and time. The two events occurred in utterly different worlds: the French Academy of Sciences of the 1820s seems very remote from the Bern patent office of the early 1900s, and the forces between two electric currents quite foreign to the optical synchronization of clocks. Yet Ampère’s electrodynamics and Einstein’s relativity are firmly connected through an historical chain involving German extensions of Ampère’s work, competition with British field conceptions, Dutch synthesis, and fin de siècle criticism of the aether-matter connection. Darrigol’s book retraces this intriguing evolution, with a physicist’s attention to conceptual and instrumental developments, and with an historian’s awareness of their cultural and material embeddings. This book exploits a wide range of sources, and incorporates the many important insights of other scholars.Thorough accounts are given of crucial episodes such as Faraday’s redefinition of charge and current, the genesis of Maxwell’s field equations, or Hertz’ experiments on fast electric oscillations. Thus emerges a vivid picture of the intellectual and instrumental variety of nineteenth century physics. The most influential investigators worked at the crossroads between different disciplines and traditions: they did not separate theory from experiment, they frequently drew on competing traditions, and their scientific interests extended beyond physics into chemistry, mathematics, physiology, and other areas. By bringing out these important features, this book offers a tightly connected and yet sharply contrasted view of early electrodynamics.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Darrigol has managed to get beyond the controversy and the confusion, assembling an interesting, coherent, and convincing narrative. By taking the best from the various scholars that have contributed to the field, by discarding the dross with a minimum of fuss and bother, and by adding his own substantial research as well as his own synthetic vision, Darrigol has crafted a history of electromagnetic experiment and theory in the 19th century that represents the best the history-of-physics enterprise has to offer.”–Daniel M. Siegel, Physics Today”The detailed analysis and understanding of the eighty or so years of endeavor which led form ‘Ampere to Einstein’ has been the daunting tasks that Professor Olivier Darrigol has set himself. I must admit that I find it extremely difficult to do justice in a brief review to this monumental work of scholarship…Darrigol’s monograph is a highly detailed and mathematical account of the historical development of electromagnetism…”–European Journal of Physics”The scope of Olivier Darrigol’s impressive treatise arouses both surprise and admiration…Darrigol offers a richly textured narrative, painstaking in its attention to detail and compelling in conceptual thrust, a work which will repay attention by historians and philosophers of physics…Darrigol builds massively and impressively on contemporary scholarship on the history of 19th-century physics.”–Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics About the Author REHSEIS 59 rue Nationale Dalle Les Olympiades – Tour Montreal 75013 PARIS et 83 rue Broca 75013 Paris darrigol@paris7.jussieu.fr

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐If any book shows why technology is a long game it is this, as it exposes how intricate a story basic (as maybe perceived now) theory is. I had been wondering about Maxwell’s equations for many years and despite passing the sweet shop where he lived in Aberdeen countless times I did not get it until I stumbled across Daniel Fleisch’s A Student’s guide to Maxwell Equations last autumn. Thence I got to this book, via some kind tip off the internet.At University we were told that there would be one course with a historical perspective of the technology, for us it was Prof Wright’s (also in Random Walk in Science) view on foosty semiconductor devices leading upto the FET. I got the impression that most undergrads experience of Electrodynamics is like a service maths course with little of the magic that this book provides. I do not hold the lecturer(s) responsible it was probably too soon to reflect on the importance of such. CAD was a few years away.Finally the book makes for a nice coffee table dipper-innerer. The style is friendly and easy going.

⭐The modern physicist learns about electromagnetism as a done deal; a very polished product centred about Maxwell’s equations. But this book shows the long forgotten tribulations and controversies that got us to today’s known state.This text is rather specialised. You need to be thoroughly conversant with electromagnetism. On a par with Jackson’s text, “Classical Electrodynamics”. But presumably you also have an interest in the history of your field. Darrigol shows that the path was often obscure. Only in full hindsight, after Maxwell and also Einstein made their contributions, did it all come clear.The scarcity of vector notation in the 19th century accounts can make reading some of the equations a little awkward. You have to perform some slight mental contortions to reinterpret what they’re saying, in modern notation.

⭐As title – the content seems excellent, but this particular reprint is just disgusting rubbish on low grade paper. It is a “Print-on-Demand” – read cheap photocopy – of what seems to be a very low resolution scan of the original printing. The result is fuzzy text and with an over zealous use of ink the characters are also thick and heavy. The production process has also resulted in sloping and uneven characters whichsometimes actually have different slopes to top and bottom halves (They should be vertical) Letters have bits missing and with all the mathematical equations the overall effect is to make the book very difficult and tiring to read. It is a disgraceful example of how low book production standards have become from a publishing house that used to excel at typographical and printing excellence. The university printers of days past will be turning in their graves. Note: this copy is actually printed by Amazon, but I doubt OUP editions will be any better given the low resolution of the original source. Note also that for this rubbish the price is exorbitant.If I was the author of such a potentially good book I’d be having strong words with the publisher to try and get a quality reprint produced at a more reasonable price.Update: I’ve since found a copy of the original printing which IS very well produced with decent paper,sharply printed and with a sewn hardback binding. Now I can read the thing it is definitely a five star book. Just make sure you don’t buy the current POD version !

⭐I have no idea why the publisher charges this much high price for a book which is a digital print on demand. The print quality is poor as you can expect from such technologies. Secondly, for such an expensive book I was expecting a durable quality hardcover but this is a fake hardcover. It’s just a paperback book glued directly to the cover not the ‘sewn’ hardcover. As a result of this the first few pages are falling apart. I am pretty sure in due time it will totally fall apart as the book is huge.At this price & most importantly the condition in which this book is brought out it’s definitely avoidable. Read the classic one by E.T. Whittaker instead, which is available at a cheap price from Dover. The book hardly aged, it’s still useful today & covers topics adequately. The content of both the book as far history is concerned it’s almost the same. In fact, Whittaker’s book also covers pre-Ampere unlike this one. So go for that.

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