La nascita e la prima affermazione della teoria di campo

The developments that, starting from the experiments of Oersted, produced the first enunciation of field theory are examined. Some details of the works of Faraday and his use of analogies are discussed, followed by Maxwell’s interpretations and mathematical models giving rise, in the context of a new way of conceiving scientific research in the second half of the 19th century, to his two fundamental results – electromagnetic theory of light and electromagnetic field equations. Finally it is shown how the logical undeterminateness of Maxwell’s theory was the basis for new developments in physics.