MAXWELL’S EQUATIONS REVISITED - MENTAL IMAGERY AND MATHEMATICAL SYMBOLS

Abstract

Using Maxwell’s mental imagery of a tube of fluid motion of an imaginary fluid, we derive his equations curl (Formula Presented), which together with the constituting relations D = ε0E, B = µ0H, form what we call today Maxwell’s equations. Main tools are the divergence, curl and gradient integration theorems and a version of Poincare’s lemma formulated in vector calculus notation. Remarks on the history of the development of electrodynamic theory, quotations and references to original and secondary literature complement the paper.