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 $\operatorname{curl} \mathbf{E} = -\frac{\partial \mathbf{B}}{\partial t}$, $\operatorname{curl} \mathbf{H} = \frac{\partial \mathbf{D}}{\partial t} + \mathbf{j}$, $\operatorname{div} \mathbf{D} = \varrho $, $\operatorname{div} \mathbf{B} = 0$, which together with the constituting relations $\mathbf{D} = \varepsilon _0 \mathbf{E}$, $\mathbf{B} = \mu _0 \mathbf{H}$, 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.