Science
Wilhelm Eduard Weber
Researcher in electrical measurement
Also known as Wilhelm Weber
Historical portrait · Image credit
Who they are
Wilhelm Eduard Weber collaborated with Rudolf Kohlrausch on electrical measurements cited by Maxwell in his 1865 electromagnetic argument. Their result gave Maxwell a quantity to compare with the measured speed of light. Weber’s inclusion records that experimental contribution and helps show how theoretical unification builds on work by multiple researchers.
His measurements provide part of the experimental foundation for Maxwell’s connection between electromagnetism and light.
Selected contributions
- With Kohlrausch, supplied the electrical result used in Maxwell’s propagation-speed comparison.Source ↗
Primary records
Academic paper · 1865
A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field
Maxwell develops a field account connecting electrical and magnetic phenomena. His comparison between electromagnetic propagation and the measured speed of light supports the argument that light is electromagnetic.
Original complete paper published in 1865; these links provide separate transcriptions of Parts I and VI.
Preview · Part I excerpt ↗Preview · Part VI excerpt ↗
Reading scope & citation
Reuses the input’s documented prior inspection: Specified original-paper sections inspected in transcription, with the parent-page received/read dates checked separately. No fresh full-work reread in this directory pass. Reused prior inspected evidence: Relevant theoretical passages inspected; numerical calculations were not independently replicated.
In the timeline
Biography sources & portrait credit
- A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field, Part VI ↗Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society; transcription at Wikisource
Portrait credit
Gottlieb Biermann. Public domain (Commons file-specific copyright declaration). Via Wikimedia Commons.
Historical portrait. Cropped to 4:5, resized to 320 × 400 and converted to WebP.
Image source & identification ↗ · Public domain (Commons file-specific copyright declaration) ↗
