ISSN:
1600-0498
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
Notes:
A commonly-encountered circumstance of technical progress is the existence of a phase during which a formerly neglected observation attracts widespread attention. This may follow on some unrelated event such as an unanticipated need or a dispute, in which material previously obscure suddenly rises in importance. The skin-effect1 in wires was such a dormant issue before 1886. Its existence had been realised by theorists such as Heaviside, Lamb and Maxwell and no doubt, if left to itself, it would in time have found its natural place in the theoretical architecture then being created. However, a Presidential Address made in January, 1886, to the Society of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians by David Edward Hughes gave a sudden impetus to the study of self-inductive phenomena. Hughes's results appeared as a weighty and public challenge to theoretical expectations and provoked an extensive and year-long period of criticism and discussion, during which the skin-effect emerged as a central issue. His experiments and interpretations were to a large, extent discredited and have come to be regarded rather as a scientific solecism, but nevertheless the effects of the debate on the practical applications of electromagnetism were very far-reaching. The skin-effect remained a paradigmatic case in electromagnetic theory, but also the obvious practical implications revealed in the debate imposed upon electrical engineers the need to revise their conceptualisation of the subject and to reevaluate the status of mathematical theory in practical matters. This paper describes the events, mainly of the year 1886, which initiated the tortuous promotion of self-induction to the status of a governing principle in electrical communications.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0498.1982.tb00658.x
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