What is Oliver Heaviside?
[[File:Oliver Heaviside2.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Oliver Heaviside, ~1900]] '''Oliver Heaviside''' ([[Camden]], [[London]] 18 May 1850 – [[Torquay]], [[Devon]] 3 February 1925) was a self-taught English [[electrical engineering|electrical engineer]], [[mathematician]], and [[physicist]]. Although he was well known in the scientific world during his life, it was not until after his death that people realized how much he had changed the study of [[mathematic]]s and [[physics]]. He used [[complex numbers]] to study [[electrical circuit]]s and did a lot of work on electromagnetic wave theory which made it necessary to find new ways of working with [[differential equation]]s. He did work on [[Maxwell's equations|Maxwell's field equations]] and [[Vector calculus|vector analysis]]. In fact, he was the inventor of Vector Calculus. Part of the [[ionosphere]] is co-named after him: the [[Kennelly-Heaviside layer]]. His personality was very eccentric and he is a good example of what many people think of as a mad scientist. ==Life== Heaviside was born in [[Camden Town]], [[London]]. His father was a skilled [[wood]] [[engraver]]. His [[uncle]], Sir [[Charles Wheatstone]] (1802-1875), co-invented the [[telegraph]] and made famous experiments in 1837 from [[Euston railway station|Euston Station]]. Heaviside was short and he had red-hair. When he was young he suffered from [[scarlet fever]] which made him rather [[deaf]], especially in his later years. Heaviside studied at Camden House School until he was 16 and continued to study at home until he was 18. He got a job as telegraph operator and spent some time working in [[Denmark]]. He noticed that operating speeds were 40% faster from England to Denmark than the other way round, and in 1871 he found a fault in the telegraph cable from England to Denmark. In 1873 he got a copy of the first edition of [[James Clerk Maxwell|Maxwell]]’s book ''A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism''. He was very influenced by this book and it helped him to produce many mathematical id