Heaviside, O
NAME: Heaviside, Oliver
ACHIEVEMENT(S): Predicted the existence of the ionosphere, an electrically conductive layer in the upper atmosphere that reflects radio waves
NICKNAME/ALIAS: None
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: May 18, 1850, London, England
DATE/PLACE OF DEATH/AGE AT DEATH: February 3, 1925, Torquay, England. Aged 74
DISCIPLINE: Physicist
FIELD: Physics/Electrical engineering
LANGUAGE: English
PARENTS: Thomas Heaviside; Rachel Elizabeth West
SIBLINGS: 3 brothers
SPOUSE: None
CHILDREN: None
EDUCATION: Schools in London
MAJOR WORK: "Electromagnetic Theory" (3 volumes)
LIFE AND TIMES:
Heaviside's uncle, physicist <uncle was> Wheatstone*, a pioneer of the telegraph, inspired and encouraged him. At 18, Heaviside immersed himself in mathematical studies and conducted electrical experiments. At 20, he got a job as a telegraph operator for the Great Northern Telegraph Company, but was obliged to quit after four years because his hearing was bad.
In 1872, he published his first technical article in "The English Mechanic", and in 1873, a paper in the "Philosophical Magazine" on methods of making duplex telegraphy practical. The article attracted the attention of <contributed to work of> Maxwell*, who mentioned Heaviside's work in the second edition of his "Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism".
Heaviside's later work in mathematical physics would play an important role in the development of practical applications of Maxwell's electromagnetic theory.
In 1887, Heaviside became embroiled in a controversy. He had discovered some major errors in a paper on telephone circuits by General Post Office technical expert, William H. Preece, and had pointed them out in "Electromagnetic Induction and its Propagation", published in "The Electrician" in June, 1887.
Heaviside outlined the conditions necessary to transmit a signal without distortion, which depended on inductance in long-distance cables. Preece had held that inductance should be minimized to reduce signal distortion. Heaviside, modifying Ohm's law to include inductance, predicted that small inductance coils, deliberately inserted at intervals throughout the length of a cable, would improve the performance.
This was later proved by Michael Pupin and others, and has since been used to great effect. But as a high government official in charge of research, Preece was in a stronger position, and Heaviside dropped the idea (which was eventually patented by Pupin in the United States in 1904).
Despite the controversy, Heaviside was highly regarded. William Thomson (later <praised by> Kelvin*) described Heaviside as an "authority", and <praised by> Lodge* wrote to "Nature" in 1890 describing Heaviside as one "whose profound researches into electromagnetic waves have penetrated further than anyone yet understands".
In 1892, Heaviside published "Electrical Papers", in which he dealt with theoretical aspects of problems in telegraphy and electrical transmission, and showed how his operational calculus could be used to study transient currents in networks. His most important work, the three-volume: "Electromagnetic Theory", was published between 1893 and 1912.
Much of it extended Maxwell's discoveries, but also included valuable new discoveries. For example, in the first volume, he theorized that an electric charge would increase in mass as its velocity increased, anticipating an aspect of <anticipated> Einstein's* special theory of relativity. In the third volume, he suggested that considering the enormous power needed to send wireless signals across great distances, it might be better to let them hug the land and sea.
In 1902, a year after <influenced by> Marconi’s* radio waves had spanned the Atlantic, Heaviside decided there must be a reflecting, ionized layer in the atmosphere that allowed radio and electrical waves to follow the Earth's curvature. Otherwise, he said, they would travel off into space in a straight line.
His prediction came shortly after <parallel work by> Kennelly* had made a similar prediction in the United States. For many years, this part of the atmosphere was known as the Kennelly-Heaviside Layer, but is now known as the ionosphere. Proof of its existence (about 63 miles above the ground) came from <theory proved by> Appleton* in 1925, when the <predicted) Appleton layer* was discovered.
Heaviside's final years were spent in Torquay, in the south of England, where he lived like a hermit in near-poverty, despite the many attempts by friends help him out financially. He was now almost totally deaf, and this, combined with his natural eccentricity, made him an outcast in the neighborhood.
A few months before he died, he was awarded the first Faraday Medal from the Institution of Electrical Engineers, and was made an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
ASSESSMENT: Best known for predicting the existence of the ionosphere, but also made significant discoveries concerning the passage of electrical waves through the atmosphere and along cables. Added the terms "inductance", "capacitance", and "impedance" to electrical science.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: His work related to that of <work related to> Penzias* and Wilson*.
ONELINER: Oliver Heaviside, who predicted the existence of the ionosphere
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
EB, DSB, DNB
Biographical Dictionary of Physicists