Abstract
Conference Title: 2014 USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting (Joint with AP-S Symposium) Conference Start Date: 2014, July 6 Conference End Date: 2014, July 11 Conference Location: Memphis, TN, USA The two historical topics that are so fundamental in electromagnetic education are addressed in this talk. It is not well recognized that Maxwell reached the conclusion light was electromagnetic in nature before he wrote his 20 equations which were reduced to the four that we use today by Hertz and Heaviside. In addition, Maxwell did not have the boundary conditions to solve his equations. The talk will illustrate the historical evolution of Maxwell's thoughts and his famous conclusion. In addition, it is not recognized that that the genius of Maxwell was that he would work on a problem, stop, and give a gap of few years and start on that topic using a different starting point and take it to a higher level. He did it thrice with el3ectromagnetic theory. The concept of displacement current was the result of his thinking at the first stage and when he came to the second stage of writing up his treatise he has completely given up his mechanical model and started directly from his equations. I think it is high time we do the same.