Electricity and Magnetism (book)

Electricity and Magnetism
Cover of the 2nd edition of the book, published in 1985
AuthorEdward Mills Purcell
LanguageEnglish
SubjectPhysics (electromagnetism)
GenreTextbook
Publication date
1st: 1965
2nd: 1985
3rd: 2013
Publication placeUnited States of America
Pagesxxii + 839 + 2

Electricity and Magnetism is a standard textbook in electromagnetism originally written by Nobel laureate Edward Mills Purcell in 1963.[1] Along with David Griffiths' Introduction to Electrodynamics, this book is one of the most widely adopted undergraduate textbooks in electromagnetism.[2] A Sputnik-era project funded by the National Science Foundation grant, the book is influential for its use of relativity in the presentation of the subject at the undergraduate level.[3] In 1999, it was noted by Norman Foster Ramsey Jr. that the book was widely adopted and has many foreign translations.[4]

The 1965 edition, now supposed to be freely available due to a condition of the federal grant, was originally published as a volume of the Berkeley Physics Course (see below for more on the legal status). The third edition, released in 2013, was written by David J. Morin for Cambridge University Press and included the adoption of SI units.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference 10.1063/pt.5.3001 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Kharel, Savan (1 June 2019). "Electromagnetism textbook bridges the gap between basic and advanced". Physics Today. 72 (6): 58–59. Bibcode:2019PhT....72f..58K. doi:10.1063/PT.3.4230. ISSN 0031-9228.
  3. ^ Stroke, Henry (August 2013). "Electricity and Magnetism Electricity and Magnetism , Edward M. Purcell and David J. Morin, Cambridge U. Press, New York, 2013. $80.00 (853 pp.). ISBN 978-1-107-01402-2". Physics Today. 66 (8): 48–50. doi:10.1063/PT.3.2085. ISSN 0031-9228.
  4. ^ Ramsey, Norman F. (1999). "Edward Mills Purcell (30 August 1912-7 March 1997)". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 143 (3): 481–483. ISSN 0003-049X. JSTOR 3181961.