Category: Heaviside — Oliver

Basil Mahon is an Author for Us — He explains Faraday, Maxwell, and Heaviside

Armand WA1UQO has sent me two of Basil Mahon’s books. They are both really great. He is a wonderful writer who has the rare ability to present not only the people who made the discoveries, but also the technical details of the discoveries themselves. There is so much to learn from Basil Mahon’s books. I put a link to one of them on the column to the right >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I bought his book on Maxwell so I can read it on a long flight our to California.

PERSONAL:

Born May 26, 1937, in Malta; married Ann Hardwick (a teacher of chemistry), April 1, 1961; children: Tim, Sara, Danny. Education: Attended Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, 1955-57; Royal Military College of Science, B.Sc., 1960; Birkbeck College, London, M.Sc., 1971.

Check out his career:

British Army, career officer, serving with Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in Germany, Aden, and United Kingdom, 1955-74, retiring as major; Government Statistical Office, civil servant, 1974-96. Consultant and trainer on censuses and statistics, including work for clients in Russia, Estonia, Croatia, and Republic of Georgia.

And his thoughts on writing:

Basil Mahon on writing: “To me, the joy of writing is simply the chance to give readers the joy of reading—to share one’s thoughts and passions with them, hoping to leave them with a feeling of pleasure and well-being. By the time I came to write The Man Who Changed Everything: The Life of James Clerk Maxwell, careers in the army and the civil service had given me plenty of practice in writing instructions—where crispness and clarity were the cardinal virtues—so the big test was to try to hold fast to these qualities and to entertain the reader at the same time.”

From the Netherlands, Manu Joseph explains why he loves Mahon and Forbes’ book on Faraday and Maxwell:

Thank you Armand, and thank you Basil Mahon.