Electromagnetism Without Fields: From Ørsted Through Ampère to Weber [Historical Corner]

Onthe occasion of the 200th Anniversary Ørsted's discovery of the magnetic effects of electric currents, this article summarizes the main stages of the development of electromagnetism before Maxwell, from Ørsted's experiments through Ampère's development of electrodynamics and Faraday's discovery of electromagnetic induction, up to the development of Weber's electrodynamics. The emphasis is on the conceptual evolution that led, on the one hand, to unification under a coherent, mathematically sound theory for all known electromagnetic phenomena within the Newtonian paradigm of instantaneous action at distance, and on the other hand, to the foundations of Maxwell's revolution, which definitely changed that paradigm.