Advances in Radio Science www.adv-radio-sci.net 1684-9965 1684-9973 3 Kleinheubacher Berichte 2004 2005 10.5194/ars-3-23-2005 http://www.adv-radio-sci.net/3/23/2005/ http://www.adv-radio-sci.net/3/23/2005/ars-3-23-2005.html http://www.adv-radio-sci.net/3/23/2005/ars-3-23-2005.pdf 23 25 2005-05-12 Evolution of Electromagnetics in the 19th Century I. V. Lindell Helsinki Univ. Tech., Otakaari 5A, Espoo 02015HUT, Finland Steps leading to the present-day electromagnetic theory made in the 19th Century are briefly reviewed. The progress can be roughly divided in two branches which are called Continental and British Electromagnetics. The former was based on Newton's action-at-a-distance principle and French mathematics while the latter grew from Faraday's contact-action principle, the concept of field lines and physical analogies. Maxwell's field theory and its experimental verification marked the last stage in the process.