Principles of Electrodynamics (Dover Books on Physics) [Paperback]

Melvin Schwartz (Author), Physics (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1987 | ISBN-10: 0486654931 | ISBN-13: 978-0486654935

This advanced undergraduate- and graduate-level text by the 1988 Nobel Prize winner establishes the subject's mathematical background, reviews the principles of electrostatics, then introduces Einstein's special theory of relativity and applies it throughout the book in topics ranging from Gauss' theorem and Coulomb's law to electric and magnetic susceptibility.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (October 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486654931
• ISBN-13: 978-0486654935
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,993 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #11 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Physics > Electromagnetism > Electricity

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing like reading Physics from a Unified Point of View!, September 14, 1999

By 

Pedro L. Ribeiro "lqp-man" (Cotia, SP Brazil) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Principles of Electrodynamics (Dover Books on Physics) (Paperback)

Since I've first heard about electricity and magnetism, people always said me that the electric and the magnetic field are nothing less than two sides of the same coin. I really wasn't convinced of that. I've entered at college. Nothing. And I took a (pitiful) undergraduate course on Electromagnetism. Nothing. Not even the Maxwell Equations and the explanation about how they demonstrate the existence of EM waves convinced me. It always appeared that The electric and the magnetic field were two separated things, no matter how much relations between them. I tried even graduate books (say, Jackson), and nothing.

Then, Here comes the light... Schwartz' chapter about electric field and relativity, where he concludes merely from Coulomb law and Lorentz invariance that MUST BE A MAGNETIC FIELD, then comes with the EM Field Strength tensor and derives (also from Lorentz invariance)... the very Maxwell's equations! Unbelievable! Why didn't they tell me this before? Or, why don't they teach EM like this? All this not to mention the section about an insight over determining nuclear shape from electric quadrupole moments, the tensorial form of EM laws, Multipole expansion, all that with a remarkable physical insight that is so rare in EM texts (maybe other exception is Landau's Classical Theory of Fields). I only regret the absence of a Lagrangian-Hamiltonian formulation for EM, Green's functions, and gauge invariance with his properties and how this reflect in the formulation of EM laws. But I believe that these topics can be well covered in Landau's text (I really hope so, so I don't need to rely on the insight-less text from Jackson). After all, the physical unity, simplicity and beauty of Schwartz's book is nearly unbeatable. 5 stars "cum lauda"!

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great physicist and entrepreneur writes on his passion, August 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Principles of Electrodynamics (Dover Books on Physics) (Paperback)

Melvin Schwartz won the Nobel Prize of physics in 1988 by his experiments (with Leon Lederman and Jack Steinberger) on this most elusive of all physical objects, the neutrino. We must be grateful for the fact that he found time to write this precious little book on electrodynamics. It is a gem . I compare it to the very best expositions: Landau-Lifshitz's "Classical Theory of Fields" and the first chapter of the first edition of Heitler's "Quantum Theory of Radiation" .

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A perfect introduction, January 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Principles of Electrodynamics (Dover Books on Physics) (Paperback)

This book is the best introduction to advanced electromagnetic theory I have ever encountered. The author does a masterly job at simplifying the mathematics without over-simplifying the physics. If you're looking to gain a deep understanding of electromagnetics and its relation to the theory of relativity, this book is for you!