Peter, K1PO wrote:
"Oliver heaviside was a poor kid from the London slums who had to go out
to work at age 16 and never saw the inside of a college or university."

I am aware of Heaviside`s story. He was the idol of one of my professors
who frerquently regaled us with heaviside stories, so he became one of
my favorites too.

Maxwell is not diminished by his advantages. He had the mathematical
background he needed to formulate his equations and the moxie to
speculate that displacement current generates a magnetic field same as a
conduction current does. This is the secret of radiation. Heaviside was
able to improve on the calculus, and simplify and reorganize Maxwell`s
work. Michael Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction and deserves
a lot of credit too. Everybody benefits from the work of others in
complicated fields. Faraday lived 1791-1867. Maxwell lived 1831-1879.
Heaviside lived 1850-1925. This really was during a golden age for the
British.

I had the Maxwell`s equations course many decades ago. Strangely enough,
it was titled "Ultra High Frequency Techniques". You really had to read
the syllabus to know what the course was about.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI