Light as an electromagnetic wave
La luz es una onda electromagnética
- Date
- 1864 · confidence high
- Place
- King's College, London, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- James Clerk Maxwell
- People
- 👤 James Clerk Maxwell1831–1879
- Field
- Communication
What was discovered
The equations predict waves travelling at a speed calculated from electric and magnetic constants that matches the speed of light: light is an electromagnetic disturbance. The second great unification of physics after Newton.
The Faraday effect of 1845 (rotation of polarisation by a magnetic field) was the first experimental hint of the light-magnetism link.
What it led to
- Complete electromagnetic spectrum (radio, infrared, X-rays)
- Hertz's radio waves
- Optics as a branch of electromagnetism
- Special relativity
Built on
- Faraday effect13 de septiembre de 1845
- Measurement of c (Fizeau, Foucault)
- Weber and Kohlrausch's electromagnetic constant (1856)
Made possible
- Light pressure (Lebedev)1899-1901
- Radio communication
- Photonics