Empire-Laden Theory: The Technological and Colonial Roots of Maxwell’s Theories of Electromagnetism

Click on the image below to download a copy of my paper “Empire-Laden Theory: The Technological and Colonial Roots of Maxwell’s Theories of Electromagnetism,” published in Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences Volume 54, Issue 1 in 2024.

Give it a read if you’re at all interested in James Clerk Maxwell’s theories of electromagnetism, Fleeming Jenkin and early experimentation with submarine telegraphy, the inspiration Maxwell took from submarine telegraphy, and the ways in which this (at the time) cutting-edge technology connects his physics to broader issues of empire and ecology in the late 19th century.

Click on the image to download a copy of the paper