> It was the experiments of Faraday, Ohm, Oersted, and others, put
> together into a theory by Maxwell, and experimentally tested by
> Hertz, that inspired Marconi and other to undertake its development.
> Say what you will, it DOES work, and it led to television and a whole
> electronics industry for which a non-scientific world-view has no
> explanation of any kind.
Certainly this is the case, but Edison, who contributed so many
electrical inventions had contempt for theory, and little knowledge
of Maxwell's equations, yet made more inventions than many Europeans
who had such knowledge and interest.
And in a message dated 98-11-06 09:19:57 +0800, Timothy Poston wrote:
> The mathematics most critical to my own day to day life is geometric
> optics; I wear glasses. Many cultures have made eyewear in other
> ways, and no other has worked. My life would be misery without it.
Me too. But the Chinese invented eyeglasses without much optics.
(Ancient Mohist optics was mostly forgotten by the time the Chinese
invented glasses.)
Val Dusek