Walid's reading of the book on Maxwell's equations slowed down as he worked to deal with a few project deliverables. He did, however, run into an interesting short article that lamented Maxwell's modesty and it's apparent negative impact on the pace of advancement of the field of electromagnetics. It's not everyday that one makes discoveries like Newton and Maxwell, but the article is a good reminder of the importance of explaining, both as often as possible and as clearly as possibly, the utility of your research results. And, as it happens, The Weekly Paragraph is a great place to start doing that!
The article goes on to present a couple of gems. The first is a set of observations that explain how Maxwell's equations and the theory that they constitute became a model for much of the innovations that define modern physics, and in particular the two-level structure of the theory in terms of a world that is not directly tangible and another that is tangible but is affected directly by the first world. This structure, it seems, also appears in relativity, quantum mechanics, etc. The second gem relates directly to our research in Acumen, and seems to be best captured by a direct quote: "To see the beauty of the Maxwell theory it is necessary to move away from mechanical models and into the abstract world of fields. To see the beauty of quantum mechanics it is necessary to move away from verbal descriptions and into the abstract world of geometry. Mathematics is the language that nature speaks. The language of mathematics makes the world of Maxwell fields and the world of quantum processes equally transparent."
Hear, hear!
The article goes on to present a couple of gems. The first is a set of observations that explain how Maxwell's equations and the theory that they constitute became a model for much of the innovations that define modern physics, and in particular the two-level structure of the theory in terms of a world that is not directly tangible and another that is tangible but is affected directly by the first world. This structure, it seems, also appears in relativity, quantum mechanics, etc. The second gem relates directly to our research in Acumen, and seems to be best captured by a direct quote: "To see the beauty of the Maxwell theory it is necessary to move away from mechanical models and into the abstract world of fields. To see the beauty of quantum mechanics it is necessary to move away from verbal descriptions and into the abstract world of geometry. Mathematics is the language that nature speaks. The language of mathematics makes the world of Maxwell fields and the world of quantum processes equally transparent."
Hear, hear!
