What Theories Are Made Of: How Industry and Culture Shaped Maxwell's Theories of Electromagnetism

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cf. his very insightful article, placing Maxwell's theories in the technological-historical context of submarine telegraph cable construction and the Industrial Revolution (Jenkin the E&M version of thermodynamics's Watt? cf. intro of Against Intellectual Monopoly):

• Lazaroff-Puck, Cameron. “Empire-Laden Theory: The Technological and Colonial Roots of Maxwell’s Theories of Electromagnetism.” Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences 54, no. 1 (February 1, 2024): 42–83. DOI: 10.1525/hsns.2024.54.1.42,
• PDF p. 26:
  In 1868, Maxwell clarified that correcting for electric absorption could also help affirm his electromagnetic theory of light by explaining away some of the disagreement between his calculated wave velocity and other contemporary measurements of the speed of light. Kohlrausch and Weber’s experiments [Weber & Kohlrausch 1856 (pp. 131ff) and Kohlrausch & Weber, 1857 (pp. 141ff.) of Weber's Main Works on Electrodynamics vol. 3] with capacitors from which Maxwell had sourced the values that made up the wave velocity in “Physical Lines” and “Dynamical Theory” were flawed. Maxwell insisted that since their experiments used solid dielectrics that would suffer from electric absorption, residual charge recovered by the capacitor after each discharge would result in too large a value for capacity. Too large a value for capacity and “the number of electrostatic units in the discharge would be overestimated, and the value of v would be too great . . . I am obliged to attribute the difference of their result from mine to a phenomenon [electric absorption] the nature of which is now much better understood than when their experiments were made80 Maxwell’s claim was correct, although his own determination of v, presented just before this quotation, was very nearly as inaccurate, just now too low.81
  80. Maxwell, “Electrostatic with Electromagnetic Force” (n.57), 136.
  81. This inaccuracy was largely a consequence of the inaccurate value of the ohm previously obtained by Maxwell and Jenkin as a part of the CES.

which mentions Weber, p. 47:

The close agreement between the calculated ratio of electrostatic and electromagnetic forces (obtained from measurements of capacitors by Kohlrausch and Weber) and the measured velocity of light

Perhaps this can shed light on why Weber's theory was buried; cf. intro of Duhem 2015.

p. 154 (PDF p. 163): 😱, maybe StarLink is better?

Southeast Asia. The harvest of an average mature tree yielded about eleven ounces of gutta-percha.233 The insulation of the 1865 Atlantic cable weighed 400 lbs. per mile.234 Across the delivered length of cable, approximately 2700 miles, that adds up to well over 500 tons of gutta-percha insulation.235 Even by a generous estimate admitting to the adulteration of the cable’s insulation with tar and other additives, likely over 1 million trees were harvested to construct this cable.

James Clerk Maxwell's theories of electromagnetism are uniquely Victorian products. Maxwell and his physics have traditionally been viewed as aloof and disinterested, dating to the mid-to-late-19th century, but not party to the cultural, industrial, political, economic, and environmental turmoil of the era. This dissertation examines often ignored corners of Maxwell's electromagnetic theories and those of his successors to demonstrate that they were shaped by the technologies of their time. These technologies, steam engine governors, capacitors, and undersea telegraph cables are each, in their own way, responsible for the varying forms taken by Maxwellian electromagnetic theory. Each of these technologies also has its own history. These histories connect these technologies and thus Maxwellian theory to the newly emerging concept of efficiency, as well as the colonialism, economics, religion, and ecology of the British Empire. Governors, capacitors, and submarine telegraph cables serve as a historiographical bridge, allowing for the exploration of how empire-wide forces shaped the minutiae of Maxwellian electromagnetic theory.