Andre K. T. Assis Publishes Five Volumes(!) of Translations of Wilhelm Weber's Electrodynamics

In the 50 odd years between 1820 and 1873, the study of electrodynamics went from a wholly new discovery to a mature and practicable field of work. This sort of development is rare in science - a field born and rapidly developed within two generations. I think perhaps only quantum theory and maybe chemistry have any claim to comparison with the swiftness and significance of this kind of revolution. But the familiar achievements of Maxwell, Gauss, Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Heaviside, etc. tell only part of the story, the part that "won out" in the end, receiving wide adoption. 

Before settling on Maxwell's electrodynamics, we had the theory of Wilhelm Weber (1804-1891), which aimed at uniting electrostatics (based on Coulomb's law) with electrodynamics (based on Ampère's forces between units of current, and Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction). Building upon the theoretical foundation of Gustav Theodor Fechner (1801 - 1887), who was otherwise known for experimental psychology, Weber succeeded in uniting these seemingly disparate theories into a rather effective whole which was consistent with the conservation of energy and the known laws of classical electromagnetism.

As discussed in vol. 1 of Whittaker's A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity, Weber's theory is not without criticisms. Chief among them are (1) that it allows for the infinite increase of a moving charge when subject to an opposing force, and (2) that it requires positive and negative charges in a conductor to move with equal and opposite velocities relative to the conductor itself. The first point, raised e.g. by Helmholtz, exacts a significant toll upon the validity of the theory, but one which might be yet handled by some refinement. The second point seems counter to physical fact, especially in the context of modern solid state theory, even going back to one of my favorite lesser-known experiments, the Stewart-Tolman experiment. 

Even still, Weber's work was incredibly influential, and provides a more intuitive understanding of such concepts as the law of electromagnetic induction, and for those reasons and more it is well worth studying Weber and the legacy he left behind. 

And now, a particularly exciting development that I've only just been made aware of: professor of physics and historian of science, Andre Koch Torres Assis, has recently published a five volume collection titled Wilhelm Weber's main works on electrodynamics translated into English (2021-2024). This gigantic effort drew on the expertise of translators Laurence Hecht, David H. Delphenich, Peter Marquardt, Hermann Haertel, Jonathan Tennenbaum, Peyman Ghaffari, Joa Weber, Urs Frauenfelder, Christof Baumgaertel, Mathias Huefner and Frederic J. Linz, and it is a welcome and generous contribution to the history of science.

You can find more about the wide range of physical and historical works Assis has contributed to on his website here. I first became aware of him from his Ampère's Electrodynamics (Amazon, but not an affiliate link), which I consider to be an authoritative treatment of Ampère and his actual experiments and theories. You really can't beat the cost-to-quality ratio of books like that, and Assis has published many. The subjects cover ancient and classical mechanics, and the history of electromagnetism, with English and Portuguese editions of most (all?) of the titles. 

What's more remarkable still, is that Assis has made his books freely available in PDF format, with errata, and print versions can be ordered through Amazon for prices less than $18 each. This is a wonderful achievement and one that I am truly in awe of - I hope this series can serve to further reintroduce Weber's electrodynamics into the world of physics, for despite the objections raised above, it is still a fascinating and satisfying theory.