James Clerk Maxwell · Science

Light Is Electromagnetism

How Maxwell proved that light is nothing but a ripple in the electromagnetic field - unifying optics with electricity and magnetism, predicting an entire invisible spectrum of radiation, and changing forever what we mean by ‘light.’

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that Maxwell identified light as an electromagnetic wave - oscillating electric and magnetic fields propagating through space at a speed his equations fixed. Explain why this unified optics with electromagnetism, and why it implied a whole spectrum of invisible radiation (radio, infrared, ultraviolet, X-ra…

Leads to Christiaan Huygens.

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