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"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.

Customer Reviews (5)

Oliver Heaviside byo
An excellent book which gives a deep insight into the life and work of this unknown genious.

An outstanding biography of an outstanding scientist
Oliver Heaviside is practically unknown today, unless you still call the ionosphere the Heaviside Layer, but far less worthy scientists have been awarded Nobel prizes. He has found an excellent biographer in Paul Nahin, who is completely at home with his material. It's a delight to see footnotes and technical notes that seriously enhance the value of the book. Thoroughly recommended to anyone with an interest in a man who helped to establish our electrical & electronic age.

Oliver Heaviside the twin brother of the greatest physicist of all times James Clerk Maxelll
Definitively professor Paul J. Nahin must be not just a great mind, but a great soul and great educator too. I just want to thank him for sharing with us this magnificent work.

This review of his book is written too, not for those "seeking a way to kill time", neither for those who faint at the sight of square root, and let alone of the square root of minus one.

The most impressive and amazing thing about the work of J.C.M and O. H. is that they the both developed the Electromagnetic theory in a time when the electron concept did not exist, or else, within a wrong framework.

They both

"strived, in fact, to achieve a physical theory without making assumptions about the underying details of the physics",

something that is seen quite often, these days, in some modern theoretical physicists, the so-called mainstream physics.

This work of professor Nahin is so full of hints why the electromagnetic theory "have resisted the errosion and corrosion of progress", and the first and most obvious one is that behind that theory lies the basis of physical reality, or as Einstein said once, understanding the electron is enough.

In fact my guess is that the electron is our first form of "measurable" energy which

"is one the great continuing(and, to my mind mysterious)issues"

of the physical reality, that Faraday resumed, thinking most probably in the magnetic field, and as so in a general and "easy" to grasp concept, I mean, the field, as anyone can "see" its lines of force in the space around, a reason why Thomson realized

"that a Faraday field could in some way store energy"

recognizing this fact as its greatest idea, but its was Maxwell who

"made the idea of distributedenergy in space the central concept of electrodynamics"

However when dealing with the field concept there we have a departure of ideas between Maxwell and Heaviside, as it were, between the "pure physicist" and the engineer dealing and thinking in the physical reality.

The question is:

is not modern thought making a great mistake when

"turning away from the view of Hertz and Heaviside that the fields are the real thing"?

Maxwell was most impressed with its mathematical-theoretical beautiful concept the

"Electrokinetic Momentum... that...it may even be called the fundamental quantity of electrodynamics",

a point of view shared today, in some way, by the nobel prize Richard Feynman who wrote:

"In the theory of quantum electrodynamics, one takes the vector and scalar potential as the fundamental quantities. E and B are slowly disappearing from the modern expression of physical laws".

Well, for not extending this review anymore, I wonder if in some way, behind this departure is not the reason why the Father of Quantum mechanics, Erwin Schrodinger wrote in his Interpretation of Quantum mechanics, July 1952 Colloquium:

"I am opposing not a few specialstatementsof quantum mechanics held today, I opposing as it were the whole of it, I am opposing its basics views that have been shaped 25 years ago...

...here no trace is left of anything that might be thought of as representing the path of a particle. Hence the idea of point electrons-whatever it may mean elsewhere- becomes absolutely inadequate in this region, that is to say within the "body" of an atom. To my mind it is patently absurd to call anything the probability of finding an electron near a particular point in this region..."

There we have a departure between the particle point of view still prevailing in modern physics when dealing with the electron, and considering it, the electron, a source of a more fundamental real field, I mean, the magnetic field B in which energy is stored, being it the real thing we can grasp and measure, when dealing with the mysterious energy concept.

Worth reading
This book has a nice mix of scientific history and mathematical information. It's not just pages of equations, but they are there to help explain the concepts. Also the tech notes are great for those of us who like to see how it all works out. I would recommend this book to engineers, scientists, mathematicians, or just people who enjoy a little history of science and technology. Heaviside is quite an interesting person.

A very good book for students and "real" scientist/engineers
Students who are really interested in physics, electrical engineering or related subjects would find this book informative and inspiring.
Real electrical engineer would have the deepest feeling when reading through the lines.
Written for a genius (hero) by a great educator of the field. ... Read more

Product Description
One of the great pioneers of electrical science, Oliver Heaviside (1850-1925) was a self-educated, fiercely independent genius who cared nothing for social or mathematical conventions. Among many achievements, he showed how to rid telephone lines of distortion and put Maxwell's wonderful but hitherto inaccessible theory of electromagnetism into its modern form. In his writings, and in life, he was always provocative, often amusing, sometimes infuriating, but never dull. This is a compelling account of Heaviside's life with a powerful insight into his scientific thinking and why it has been so influential.

Also available:

Curiosity Perfectly Satisfied: Faraday's travels in Europe 1813-1815 - ISBN 9780863412349
A Scientist's War: The diary of Sir Clifford Paterson 1939-45 - ISBN 9780863412189 ... Read more

Product Description
Englishman OLIVER HEAVISIDE (1850-1925) left school at 16 to teach himself electrical engineering, eventually becoming a renowned mathematician and one of the world's premiere authorities on electromagnetic theory and its applications for communication, including the telegraph and telephone. Here in three volumes are his collected writings on electromagnetic theory-Volume I was first published in 1893. This is a catalog of the bulk of his postulations, theorems, proofs, and common problems (and solutions) in electromagnetism, many of which had been published in article form. Part scientific history-including references to some contemporary criticisms, long since shown to be poorly based, of Heaviside's scholarship-and part guide to understanding a complex applied science, this work shows both the genius and the eccentricity of a man whose work includes precursory theories to Einstein, and revolutionary principles that today are the commonly assumed truths in the field of electrical engineering. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

More than about Crazy Love, it is Crazy Love!
From page xi:

"To write this book required that I be willing to spend hours and days and weeks and months and years reading Heaviside...and to be honest and frank with you, it was hard to do. IT ALMOST DID ME IN, and I now understand why so many of his readers tore their hair out trying to read him. I do not sneer at historians who may have once thought of doing a book like this but then thought the better of it once they realized what they would have to go through."

From far down the page xii:

"But no matter, it has been a labor of love.... Indeed, as the job draws to a close I am bedeviled by the question, what do I do now?"

And a little farther down on xii:

"...made me feel as close as I'll ever come to my hero, that intrepid professor of action and romance, Indiana Jones."

Revealing biography of a hermit genius
Oliver Heaviside was born in London in 1850, the youngest of four sons of a poor and often brutal wood engraver.Oliver never attended college and had only one job for only six years:as a telegraph clerk and technician.Nevertheless he taught himself college-level mathematics and physics.He grew to become a respected expert in electromagnetism:He independently developed vector analysis and thereby cast Maxwell's equations into their modern form.He also studied transmission lines, inventing operator calculus to do so.In studying the electrodynamics of a moving charged sphere, he, with George Searle, anticipated aspects of Einstein's special relativity.However, throughout his adult life he seems to have been handicapped by chronic depression, which made him a cantankerous loner.

This book will be understood and appreciated best by readers who are familiar with college-level electromagnetism.However, the author does try to appeal to a wider audience:he relegates mathematical aspects of Heaviside's work to appendices.(I would have preferred more math since that's the basis of Heaviside's reputation.)The text is liberally sprinkled with excerpts from Heaviside's correspondence and with the author's first-person comments.(I would have preferred a little less of both.)References are abundant.This book should be regarded as the definitive biography of this curious, inspiring genius.

Out-of-Print----BUT NOT FOR LONG
As the author of this book, you may want to ignore my rating! I am really writing to simply note that the book will be reprinted late in 2001 or early in 2002 by The Johns Hopkins University Press. I have written a new introduction for the JHUP edition to bring the book up-to-date on all the latest about Heaviside. ... Read more

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Oliver Heaviside's electromagnetic investigations - from the publication of his first electrical paper in 1972 to the public recognition awarded to him by Lord Kelvin in 1889 - have consistently attracted attention over the years, and of late have become a major source for the study of the development of field theory after Maxwell. "From Obscurity to Enigma" is the only comprehensive, in-depth analysis of Heaviside's work. It analyses and elucidates his brilliant but often close-to-indecipherable Electrical Papers and traces the evolution of his ideas against the background of growing knowledge in basic electromagnetic theory, telegraphy and telephony during these years. The book will be appreciated by historians of science and technology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and by physicists and electrical engineers, many of whom are aware of Heaviside's contributions to their respective fields.

Product Description
Englishman OLIVER HEAVISIDE (1850-1925) left school at 16 to teach himself electrical engineering, eventually becoming a renowned mathematician and one of the world's premiere authorities on electromagnetic theory and its applications for communication, including the telegraph and telephone. Here in three volumes are his collected writings on electromagnetic theory-Volume III was first published in 1912. This is a catalog of the bulk of his postulations, theorems, proofs, and common problems (and solutions) in electromagnetism, many of which had been published in article form. Part scientific history-including references to some contemporary criticisms, long since shown to be poorly based, of Heaviside's scholarship-and part guide to understanding a complex applied science, this work shows both the genius and the eccentricity of a man whose work includes precursory theories to Einstein, and revolutionary principles that today are the commonly assumed truths in the field of electrical engineering. ... Read more

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This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1892 edition by Macmillan and Co., London and New York. ... Read more

Product Description
Englishman OLIVER HEAVISIDE (1850-1925) left school at 16 to teach himself electrical engineering, eventually becoming a renowned mathematician and one of the world's premiere authorities on electromagnetic theory and its applications for communication, including the telegraph and telephone. Here in three volumes are his collected writings on electromagnetic theory-Volume II was first published in 1899. This is a catalog of the bulk of his postulations, theorems, proofs, and common problems (and solutions) in electromagnetism, many of which had been published in article form. Part scientific history-including references to some contemporary criticisms, long since shown to be poorly based, of Heaviside's scholarship-and part guide to understanding a complex applied science, this work shows both the genius and the eccentricity of a man whose work includes precursory theories to Einstein, and revolutionary principles that today are the commonly assumed truths in the field of electrical engineering. ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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Chapters: John Ambrose Fleming, Robert Watson-Watt, Oliver Heaviside, Sir Charles Wheatstone, Geoffrey Dummer, R. E. B. Crompton, Derek Abbott, Alan Blumlein, Leonard George Chapman, Silvanus P. Thompson, Eric Laithwaite, Sam Alper, Alexander Bain, Frank Parkinson, Godfrey Hounsfield, Charles Vincent Walker, Robert James Clayton, Peter Eckersley, George Forbes, H. J. Round, John Hopkinson, Charles Hesterman Merz, Edward Weston, Alan Archibald Campbell-Swinton, Wildman Whitehouse, C. F. Varley, Charles Tilston Bright, Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti, Tom Kilburn, Henry William Clothier, Alec Reeves, Henry Wilde, Charles Fairburn, Hertha Marks Ayrton, William Eccles, Michael Laughton, John Loder, Edward Hopkinson, Caroline Haslett, Frederic Calland Williams, Gordon Rawcliffe, Andrew Donald Booth, Stanley R. Mullard, Jim Warman, Sidney Brown, Richard Grimsdale, Albert Charles Bartlett, Geoffrey Sims, Alfred Rosling Bennett, Willoughby Smith, Andy Bereza, Katy Deacon, Edgar Larner, James Grimston, 4th Earl of Verulam, Alexander Muirhead, Magnus Volk, Lionel Tarassenko, James Blyth, Arnold Lynch, William Thomas Henley, Jm Dodds, Alexander Lamb Cullen, William Mclellan, Kenyon Taylor. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 257. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Sir Charles Wheatstone FRS (6 February 1802 - 19 October 1875), was an English scientist and inventor of many scientific breakthroughs of the Victorian era, including the English concertina, the stereoscope (a device for displaying three-dimensional images), and the Playfair cipher (an encryption technique). However, Wheatstone is best known for his contributions in the development of the Wheatstone bridge, originally invented by Samuel Hunter Christie, which is used to measure an unknown electrical resistance, and as a major figure in the de...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=79836 ... Read more

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Chapters: Charles Dickens, Oliver Heaviside, John Betjeman, William Ballantine, Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, Cab Kaye, Jessie Bond, Anthony Head, Tamsin Greig, Eugene Aynsley Goossens, Louisa Lytton, Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, Olivia Williams, Jonathan Hunt, Archie Macdonald, Reuben Agboola, Melanie Blatt, Marco Pirroni, Johnnie Jackson, Terry Burton, John Matthews, Ruby Bentall, Jaime Winstone, Harold Hitchcock, Torquil Norman, Terry Mancini, George Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu, Owen Aaronovitch, Jill Craigie, Sydney Carter, Nicky Nicolau, Wadham Wyndham, Fiona Millar, Jodhi May, Ziggy Lichman, Mark Dolan, Giulia Warwick, Delia Cardnell, Cyril Axelrod, Chris Foreman, Frederick Chapman, Danny Hylton, Ashley Keane, Emma Hayes, Robert Mcmillan, Susan Garden, Baroness Garden of Frognal, Arthur Schneidau, Nicky Ioannou, Dame Jane Roberts, Wayne Sharrocks, Gerald Cross. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 285. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Charles John Huffam Dickens (pronounced ; 7 February 18129 June 1870) was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era, and one of the most popular of all time, responsible for some of English literature's most iconic characters. Many of his novels, with their recurrent theme of social reform, first appeared in magazines in serialised form, a popular format at the time. Unlike other authors who completed entire novels before serialisation, Dickens often created the episodes as they were being serialized. The practice lent his stories a particular rhythm, punctuated by cliffhangers to keep the public looking forward to the next instalment. The continuing popularity of his novels and short stories is such that they have never gone out of print. His work has been praised for its mastery of prose and unique personaliti...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=5884 ... Read more

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Les achats comprennent une adhésion à l'essai gratuite au club de livres de l'éditeur, dans lequel vous pouvez choisir parmi plus d'un million d'ouvrages, sans frais. Le livre consiste d'articles Wikipedia sur : Andrew Wiles, Paul Dirac, Alan Turing, John Maynard Keynes, Oliver Heaviside, Roger Penrose, George Boole, Bertrand Russell, Lewis Carroll, Lewis Fry Richardson, Charles Babbage, Robert Grossetête, Alfred North Whitehead, Auguste de Morgan, Joannes de Sacrobosco, Jacob Bronowski, Ada Lovelace, Thomas Bradwardine, Stephen Wolfram, George Darwin, Erik Christopher Zeeman, Godfrey Harold Hardy, John Wallis, Henry Briggs, Thomas Heath, William Kingdon Clifford, Donald Davies, Brook Taylor, Irving John Good, Edmund Gunter, John Horton Conway, Karl Pearson, James Jeans, George Green, James Ivory, Samuel Hunter Christie, William Wallace, Charles Hutton, Peter Barlow, William Oughtred, Ian Stewart, James Joseph Sylvester, Edward Wright, Benjamin Robins, David Trotman, Edmund Taylor Whittaker, William Jones, Michael Atiyah, John Couch Adams, Frank Ramsey, Percy John Heawood, William Brouncker, Edward Arthur Milne, Ronald Aylmer Fisher, Kenneth Binmore, Simon Donaldson, Robert Woodhouse, Thomas Bayes, Augustus Edward Hough Love, George Garfield Hall, Georg Kreisel, Keith Moffatt, Thomas Hornsby, Horace Lamb, William Whewell, Roger Cotes, Temple Chevallier, Arthur Cayley, Edward Waring, John M. Ball, Peter Swinnerton-Dyer, J. H. C. Whitehead, John Pell, Egon Sharpe Pearson, Samuel Vince, Klaus Roth, Sydney Chapman, Chandra Wickramasinghe, Jonathan Mestel, Arthur Geoffrey Walker, John Machin, Nicholas Saunderson, Thomas Wright, Dorothy Maud Wrinch, Alan Baker, John Landen, John Craig, Marcus Du Sautoy, William Henry Young, Grace Chisholm Young, John Collins, John Colson, Max Newman, Henry Dudeney, John Venn, William George Horner, Isaac Milner, Michael James Lighthill, William Spottiswoode, Benjamin Gompertz, Reuben Goodstein, Thoma...http://booksllc.net/?l=fr ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! In physics, the Poynting vector can be thought of as representing the energy flux (in W/m2) of an electromagnetic field. It is named after its inventor John Henry Poynting. Oliver Heaviside independently co-discovered the Poynting vector.Sometimes, an alternative definition in terms of electric field E and the magnetic field B is used, which is explained below. It is even possible to combine the displacement field D with the magnetic field B to get the Minkowski form of the Poynting vector, or use D and H to construct another. A generalization to dispersive materials is possible under certain circumstances at the cost of additional terms and the loss of their clear physical interpretation. ... Read more