Imperial science : cable telegraphy and electrical physics in the Victorian British empire / Bruce J. Hunt, University of Texas, Austin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hunt, Bruce J., author.

Series:

Science in history (Cambridge University Press)

Science in history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Telegraph--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Telegraph.

Electromagnetism--Research--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Electromagnetism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 308 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2021.

Summary:

In the second half of the nineteenth century, British firms and engineers built, laid, and ran a vast global network of submarine telegraph cables. For the first time, cities around the world were put into almost instantaneous contact, with profound effects on commerce, international affairs, and the dissemination of news. Science, too, was strongly affected, as cable telegraphy exposed electrical researchers to important new phenomena while also providing a new and vastly larger market for their expertise. By examining the deep ties that linked the cable industry to work in electrical physics in the nineteenth century - culminating in James Clerk Maxwell's formulation of his theory of the electromagnetic field - Bruce J. Hunt sheds new light both on the history of the Victorian British Empire and on the relationship between science and technology.

Contents:

"An ill-understood effect of induction" : telegraphy and field theory in Victorian Britain

Wildman Whitehouse, William Thomson, and the first Atlantic cable

Redeeming failure : the joint committee investigation

Units and standards : the ohm is where the art is

The ohm, the speed of light, and Maxwell's theory of the electromagnetic field

To rule the waves : Britain's cable empire and the making of "Maxwell's equations."

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 14 Dec 2020).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-108-90508-0

1-108-90605-2

1-108-90270-7

OCLC:

1202729636