Englishman OLIVER HEAVISIDE (1850-1925) left school at 16 to teach himself electrical engineering, eventually becoming a renowned mathematician and one of the world's premiere authorities on electromagnetic theory and its applications for communication, including the telegraph and telephone.

Here in three volumes are his collected writings on electromagnetic theory-Volume I was first published in 1893. This is a catalog of the bulk of his postulations, theorems, proofs, and common problems (and solutions) in electromagnetism, many of which had been published in article form.

Part scientific history-including references to some contemporary criticisms, long since shown to be poorly based, of Heaviside's scholarship-and part guide to understanding a complex applied science, this work shows both the genius and the eccentricity of a man whose work includes precursory theories to Einstein, and revolutionary principles that today are the commonly assumed truths in the field of electrical engineering.