ABSTRACT
In this chapter Hertz starts from the older action-at-a-distance theories of electromagnetism of W. Weber and F. Neumann and proceeds to derive Maxwell’s equations from first principles in a new way that avoids both the mechanical models Maxwell had originally used and Maxwell’s concept of the displacement current. At that time both these approaches were out of favor with Hertz’s colleagues in Germany. The chapter indicates two ways in which Hertz’s ideas were developing at that time. He still appreciated Helmholtz’s approach to electromagnetism but demonstrated a growing independence from the details of Helmholtz’s treatment. He was also more and more convinced that electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light and that an experimental proof of this fact was essential to validate Maxwell’s theory. The chapter reviews of Hertz’s Miscellaneous Papers by the Irish physicist, George Francis FitzGerald, which appeared in Nature in 1896.
