LORENZ, L. (LUDVIG VALENTIN). - ESTABLISHING THE ELECTRO-MAGNETIC THEORY OF LIGHT.

Om Identiteten af Lyssvingninger og elektriske Strømme. Meddelt den 25. Jan. 1866. (On the Identity of light- vibrations and electrical Currents - Ueber die Identität der Schwingungen des Lichts mit den elektrischen Strömen - Sur l'identité des vibrations de la lumière et des courants électriques).

Kjöbenhavn, Bianco Luno, 1867. Contemp. hcalf. Gilt spine with gilt lettering. In: "Oversigt over det Kongelige danske Videnskabernes Selskabs Forhandlinger... i Aaret 1867". X,273,49,(3) pp., textillustrations and plates. (Entire volume offered). Lorenz's paper: pp. 26-45 and pp. 9-16 (Resumé en Francais). Clean and fine.

Scarce first edition of Lorenz' landmark paper, which contains his important studies on the electromagnetic theory of light in which he - less than two years after, but independently of, Maxwell - found that LIGHT MIGHT BE INTERPRETED AS ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES, and that his equations lead to the CORRECT VALUE FOR THE VELOCITY OF LIGHT.
"The procedure which Lorenz followed was that of which Riemann had suggested in 1858, namely, to modify the accepted formula of electrodynamics by introducing terms which, though too small to be appreciable in ordinary laboratory experiments, would be capable of accounting for the propagation of electrical effects through space with a finite velocity...The (Lorenz-) equations are, however, the fundamental equations of Maxwell's theory; and therefore the theory of L. Lorenz is practically equivalent to that of Maxwell, so far as concerns the propagation of electromagnetic disturbances through free aether.....he suggested that ALL LUMINOUS VIBRATIONS MIGHT BE CONSTITUTED BY ELECTRIC CURRENTS, and hence that there was 'no longer any reason for maintaining the hypothesis of an aether, since we can admit that space contains sufficient ponderable matter to enable the disturbance to be propagated" (Edmund Whittaker in "A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity I", p. 267-70).

Order-nr.: 53255