Oliver Heaviside (May 18, 1850 – February 3, 1925) was a self-taught
English electrical engineer, mathematician, and physicist who adapted complex numbers to the study of electrical circuits, invented
mathematical techniques to the solution of differential equations (later found to
be equivalent to Laplace transforms), reformulated Maxwell's field equations in terms of electric and
magnetic forces and energy flux,
and independently co-formulated vector analysis. Although at odds with the scientific
establishment for most of his life, Heaviside changed the face of mathematics and science for years to come.
Biography
Early years
Heaviside was born in London's Camden Town.
He was short and red-headed, and suffered from scarlet fever during his youth. The illness
had a lasting impact on him, and Heaviside was left partially deaf. Although he was a
good scholar (placed fifth out of five hundred students in 1865), he left school at 16 and began learning about telegraphy and electromagnetism.
Heaviside became a telegraph operator, initially in Denmark and, later, at the Great Northern Telegraph Company. Heaviside continued to study and, in 1872, while working as a chief
operator in Newcastle upon Tyne, he started an analysis of electricity. In 1874, Heaviside left this position and worked on his own at his parents' home in London.
Here he helped develop transmission line theory (also known as the
"telegrapher's equations").
Heaviside showed mathematically that uniformly distributed inductance in a
telegraph line would diminish both attenuation and distortion, and that, if the inductance were great enough and the
insulation resistance not too high,
the circuit would be distortionless while currents of all frequencies would be equally attenuated. Heaviside's
equations helped further the implementation of the telegraph.
Middle years
In 1880, Heaviside researched the skin effect in telegraph transmission lines. In 1884 he
recast Maxwell's mathematical analysis from its original cumbersome form (they had already been recast as quaternions) to its modern vector terminology, thereby reducing the
original twenty equations in twenty unknowns down to the four differential
equations in two unknowns we now know as Maxwell's equations. The four
re-formulated Maxwell's equations describe the nature of static and moving electric charges and magnetic dipoles, and the
relationship between the two, namely electromagnetic induction. In 1880 he patented, in England, the co-axial Cable.
Between 1880 and 1887, Heaviside developed the operational calculus (involving the
D notation for the differential operator, which he is credited with
creating), a method of solving differential equations by transforming them into ordinary algebraic equations which caused a great deal of controversy when first introduced, owing to the lack
of rigor in his derivation of it. He famously said, "Mathematics is an experimental science, and
definitions do not come first, but later on." He was replying to criticism over his use of operators that were not clearly
defined. On another occasion he stated somewhat more defensively, "I do not refuse my dinner simply because I do not understand
the process of digestion."
In 1887, Heaviside proposed that induction coils (inductors) should be added to telephone and telegraph lines to increase their self-induction in and correct the
distortion from which they suffered. For political reasons, this was not done. The importance of Heaviside's work remained
undiscovered for some time after publication in The Electrician, and so its rights lay
in the public domain. AT&T later employed one of its own scientists, George A. Campbell,
and an external investigator Michael Idvorsky Pupin to determine whether
Heaviside's work was incomplete or incorrect in any way. Campbell and Pupin extended Heaviside's work, and AT&T filed for
patents covering not only their research, but also the technical method of constructing the coils previously invented by
Heaviside. AT&T later offered Heaviside money in exchange for his rights; it is possible that the Bell engineers' respect for
Heaviside influenced this offer. However, Heaviside refused the offer, declining to accept any money unless the company were to
give him full recognition. Heaviside was chronically poor, making his refusal of the offer even more striking.[1]
In two papers of 1888 and 1889, Heaviside calculated the deformations of electric and magnetic fields surrounding a moving
charge, as well as the effects of it entering a denser medium. This included a prediction of what is now known as
Cherenkov radiation, and inspired Fitzgerald to suggest what now is known as the
Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction.
In the late 1880s and early 1890s, Heaviside worked on the concept of electromagnetic mass. Heaviside treated this as "real" as material mass, capable of producing the same effects. Wilhelm Wien later verified
Heaviside's expression (for low velocities).
In 1891 the British Royal Society recognized Heaviside's contributions to the
mathematical description of electromagnetic phenomena by naming him a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1905 Heaviside was given an
honorary doctorate by the University of Göttingen.
Later years
In 1902, Heaviside proposed the existence of the Kennelly-Heaviside Layer of
the ionosphere which bears his name. Heaviside's proposal included means by which radio signals are transmitted around the
earth's curvature. The existence of the ionosphere was confirmed in 1923. The predictions by Heaviside, combined with
Planck's radiation theory, probably discouraged further attempts to detect radio waves from
the Sun and other astronomical objects. For whatever
reason, there seem to have been no attempts for 30 years, until Jansky's development
of radio astronomy in 1932.
In later years his behavior became quite eccentric. Though he had been an active cyclist in his youth, his health seriously
declined in his sixth decade. During this time Heaviside would sign letters with the initials "W.O.R.M." after his name
though the letters did not stand for anything. Heaviside also reportedly started painting his fingernails pink and had granite blocks moved into his house for furniture. Heaviside died at
Torquay in Devon, and is buried in Paignton cemetery. Most of his recognition was gained posthumously.
Innovations and discoveries
Heaviside advanced the idea that the earth's uppermost atmosphere contained an ionized layer known as the ionosphere; in this regard, he predicted the existence of what later was dubbed the Kennelly-Heaviside Layer. Heaviside developed the transmission line theory (also known as the "telegrapher's equations"). He also independently
co-discovered the Poynting vector.
Heaviside simplified and made useful for the sciences the original Maxwell's
equations of electromagnetism. This innovation from the reformulation of
Maxwell's original equations gives the four vector equations known today. Heaviside developed the Heaviside step function, which he used to model the flow of current in an electric circuit. Heaviside developed vectors (and
vector calculus). Heaviside formed the operator method
for linear differential equations. However,
Heaviside's approach is short of rigorous mathematical basis. Thomas Bromwich supplemented Heaviside's operator method by
providing a rigorous mathematics basis. (Please see Bromwich integral, which is just
the inverse Laplace transform in modern text books.) Heaviside's operator method is more or less similar to the modern approach
of using Laplace transform.
Electromagnetic terms
Oliver Heaviside coined the following terms:
- "electret" for the electric analogue of a permanent magnet, or, in other words, any
substance that exhibits a quasi-permanent electric polarization (e.g. ferroelectric).
- In September of 1885, "conductance" and "permeability".
- In February of 1886, "inductance".
- In July of 1886, "impedance".
- In December of 1887, "admittance".
- In May of 1888, "reluctance".
- In June of 1887, Heaviside used the term "permittance" which later became
susceptance.
See also
- Physics: Kennelly-Heaviside Layer,
Microwave, 1850 in science
- Mathematics: Analytical Society,
Differential operator, Heaviside step
function, Maxwell's equations, Quaternions
- People: William Rowan Hamilton, James Clerk Maxwell, Willard Gibbs, Mihajlo Pupin, Nikola Tesla
- Other: Heaviside condition
Publications
- Heaviside, Oliver, "Electromagnetic induction and its propagation". The Electrician, 1885, 1886, and 1887.
- Heaviside, Oliver, "Electrical Papers" 1887.
- Heaviside, Oliver, "The Electro-magnetic Effects of a Moving charge". Electrician, 1888.
- Heaviside, Oliver, "On the Electro-magnetic Effects due to the Motion of Electrification through a Dielectric".
Phil.Mag.S.5 vol.27, 1889 p.324, 1889.
- Heaviside, Oliver, "On the Forces, Stresses, and Fluxes of Energy in the Electromagnetic Field". Philosopical
Transaction of the Royal Society, London, 1893.
- Heaviside, Oliver, "A
gravitational and electromagnetic analogy". The Electrician, 1893.
- Heaviside, Oliver, "Electromagnetic theory: The complete & unabridged edition". 1951. ISBN B0000CI0WA
- Heaviside, Oliver, "Electromagnetic Theory". American Mathematical Society, 1970. ISBN 0-8284-0237-X
- Heaviside, Oliver, "Electrical Papers". American Mathematical Society, 1999. ISBN 0-8284-0235-3
- Heaviside, Oliver, "Electrical Papers". American Mathematical Society, 2003. ISBN 0-8218-2840-1
Further reading
Sorted by date.
- Lee, G., "Oliver Heaviside". London, 1947.
- "The Heaviside Centenary Volume". The Institution of Electrical Engineers. London, 1950.
- Josephs, H, J., "Oliver Heaviside : a biography". London, 1963.
- Josephs, H, J., "The Heaviside Papers found at Paignton in 1957.". Electromagnetic Theory by Oliver Heaviside. New
York, 1971.
- Moore, D. H., "Heaviside Operational Calculus". New York, 1971. ISBN 0-444-00090-9
- Buchwald, J. Z., "From Maxwell to microphysics". Chicago, 1985. ISBN 0-226-07882-5
- Searle, G. F. C., "Oliver Heaviside, the Man". St Albans, 1987. ISBN 0-906340-05-5
- Nahin, P. J., "Oliver Heaviside, Sage in Solitude". IEEE Press, New York, 1988. ISBN 0-87942-238-6
- Laithwaite, E. R., "Oliver Heaviside - establishment shaker". Electrical Review, November 12, 1982.
- Hunt, B. J., "The Maxwellians". Ithaca NY, 1991.ISBN 0-8014-8234-8
- Lynch, A. C., "The Sources for a Biography of Oliver Heaviside". History of Technology, Vol. 13, ed. G.
Hollister-Short, London & New York, 1991.
- Yavetz, I., "From Obscurity to Enigma: The Work of Oliver Heaviside, 1872-1889". Basel, 1995. ISBN 3-7643-5180-2
- Pickover, Clifford A., "Strange Brains and Genius, The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen". June 2, 1999.
ISBN 0-688-16894-9
- Nahin, Paul J., "Oliver Heaviside: The Life, Work, and Times of an Electrical Genius of the Victorian Age". November,
2002. ISBN 0-8018-6909-9
External links and references
- The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, "Oliver
Heaviside". School of Mathematics and Statistics. University of St Andrews, Scotland
- "Mr. Oliver Heaviside".
Obituary, The Times. (GIF File
format)
- Katz, Eugenii, "Oliver Heaviside". Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
- "Oliver Heaviside". John H. Lienhard. The Engines of Our Ingenuity. NPR. KUHF-FM Houston. 1990.
No. 426. Transcript.
- Ghigo, F., "Pre-History of Radio Astronomy, Oliver Heaviside (1850-1925)". National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank,
West Virginia.
- Wolfram, Stephen, "Heaviside, Oliver (1850-1925)". Wolfram Media, Inc.
- Naughton, Russell, "Oliver W.
Heaviside: 1850 - 1925". Adventures in CyberSound.
- Bexte, Peter, "Kabel im
Denkraum" (German)
- Tr. "Cable in the thinking area"
- McGinty, Phil, "Oliver
Heaviside". Devon Life, Torbay Library Services.
- Gustafson, Grant, "Heaviside's Methods". math.utah.edu. (PDF)
- The Dibner Library Portrait Collection, "Oliver Heaviside".
- "Physical
units". 1911 Encyclopdia
- Heaviside's Operational
Calculus
Notes
- ^ Norbert Wiener (1993).
Invention: The Care and Feeding of Ideas. MIT Press, 70-75.
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia
Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public
domain.
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