• DOI:10.1007/S00016-002-8357-5
Corpus ID: 27691986

The Origins of the Field Concept in Physics

@article{Mcmullin2002TheOO,
  title={The Origins of the Field Concept in Physics},
  author={Ernan Mcmullin},
  journal={Physics in Perspective},
  year={2002},
  volume={4},
  pages={13-39}
}

• E. Mcmullin
• Published 1 February 2002
• Physics
• Physics in Perspective

Abstract. The term, “field,” made its first appearance in physics as a technical term in the mid-nineteenth century. But the notion of what later came to be called a field had been a long time in gestation. Early discussions of magnetism and of the cause of the ocean tides had long ago suggested the idea of a “zone of influence” surrounding certain bodies. Johannes Kepler's mathematical rendering of the orbital motion of Mars encouraged him to formulate what he called “a true theory of gravity… Expand