Oliver Heaviside, English engineer, mathematician, and physicist (d. 1925)
Oliver Heaviside FRS (; 18 May 1850 – 3 February 1925) was an English self-taught mathematician and physicist who brought complex numbers to circuit analysis, invented a new technique for solving differential equations (equivalent to the Laplace transform), independently developed vector calculus, and rewrote Maxwell's equations in the form commonly used today. He significantly shaped the way Maxwell's equations are understood and applied in the decades following Maxwell's death. His formulation of the telegrapher's equations became commercially important during his own lifetime, after their significance went unremarked for a long while, as few others were versed at the time in his novel methodology. Although at odds with the scientific establishment for most of his life, Heaviside changed the face of telecommunications, mathematics, and science.
1850May, 18
Oliver Heaviside
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Events on 1850
- 29Jan
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress. - 7Mar
Compromise of 1850
Senator Daniel Webster gives his "Seventh of March" speech endorsing the Compromise of 1850 in order to prevent a possible civil war. - 29Jun
Church of Greece
Autocephaly officially granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Church of Greece. - 18Sep
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
The U.S. Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. - 29Sep
Universalis Ecclesiae
The papal bull Universalis Ecclesiae restores the Roman Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales.