History of Electromagnetics Stuart A. Long Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Houston

Thales of Miletus – 600 BC Oldest reference to any “electrical” phenomenon His teachings were passed down orally until Aristotle wrote them down in the form of a lyrical poem

First person to have observed the attractive properties of the mineral amber. Rubbing an amber rod with rabbit fur caused small bits of straw or feathers to be attracted toward it. The Greek word for amber is “elektron”.

No real science involved All knowledge was qualitative No quantitative formulas “When you can measure what you are speaking about and express it in numbers, you know something about it. But when you cannot measure it, and you cannot express it in numbers, your when you cannot knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind.” Lord Kelvin

Benjamin Franklin – 1750

Charles de Coulomb – 1785

Alessandro Volta – 1800

Hans Christian Oersted – 1820

Andre Ampere – 1820

Michael Faraday

James Clerk Maxwell – 1873

Heinrich Hertz – 1888