Theory of Electromagnetism - Essay Example

In modern physics, I studied the theory of electromagnetism by James Clerk Maxwell a Scottish Physicist. He is considered by many scientists as the 19th Century most important physicist. His first step on the electromagnetic theory in the paper on “Faraday’s Lines of Force.” He integrated Faraday’s Law of Induction and Ampere’s Law while experimenting with capacitors. Furthermore, he integrated the concept of relativity physics, which makes his electromagnetism theory very important as he further developed the electromagnetism equations known as Maxwell’s Laws (Hall).

The interesting aspect is that ancient civilizations such as the Chinese and Egyptians knew the concept of loadstone before the Europeans. In addition, ancient civilization discovered that a long piece of loadstone, if rested on a piece of wood and floated on the water, turns in the sense that the tips point north and south. Hence, the mariner compass was born which was known to the Chinese, Muslims and North European sailors (Fowler). Therefore, electromagnetism was known thousands of years ago, but it only came to be famous after Thales discovered it.

However, Maxwell’s theory is the most important piece of discovery for it contributed to the advancement of theoretical physics in the 19th Century.