Electromagnetism without Magnetism: An Historical Sketch

Maxwell's formulation of electromagnetism is not the only formulation, though it is the most familiar. In particular, the whole subject of electrodynamics can be expressed as an extension of Coulomb's equation, with the magnetic field entirely eliminated. The paper reviews the history of this attack, beginning with the work of Coulomb, Ampere, and Gauss, and concluding with recent developments.