Maxwell's Equations

Updated March 28, 2010

IEEE Milestone, honoring James Clerk Maxwell and “Maxwell’s Equations,” the equations bearing his name, unveiled on August 13, 2009 at Glenair House – Maxwell’s family home – in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland

(click on image for closer view)

Maxwell's famous equations form the basis for all electromagnetic analyses. For a while, Ansoft used to provide them on the back of a tee shirt if you visited their booth...

There was an errant minus sign until recently, thanks to Paul it is now fixed.

Wikipedia has an excellent treatment of Maxwell's equations, you are better off there rather than wasting time on this page!

Maxwell, of course, is in our Microwave Hall of Fame.

Here's a pithy remark concerning this topic from Kevin, which we modified into a Who Wants to Be a Millionaire multiple choice question:

"Unless he is a _____________, they are the first things a EE forgets after he gets his degree."

A. masochist

B. antenna designer

C. EM software entrepreneur

D. Hip-hop star

Without revealing the answer, let's just say there aren't too many microwave engineers out there that use calculus on a daily basis. But in order to understand many microwave problems, at least you'll need to know the boundary conditions for Maxwell's equations. More to come, we promise! Anyone want to help us out?

In the mean time, you can go to our book page and order up a copy of Pozar...