Heaviside, Oliver (redirected from Heaviside)

Heaviside, Oliver (hĕv`ēsīd'), 1850–1925, English physicist. He did valuable work in telephony and in the theory of electrical conduction in cables and other areas of electric theory. He suggested (1902) the existence of a layer in the upper atmosphere responsible for altering the path of certain radio waves and thus making possible long-distance transmission of signals. The same conclusion was reached independently by Arthur E. Kennelly; its existence was proven, and it is known both as the Kennelly-Heaviside layer and as the Heaviside layer. See ionosphere.

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Heaviside, Oliver

(born May 18, 1850, London, Eng.—died Feb. 3, 1925, Torquay, Devon) English physicist. In 1902 he predicted the presence of the ionosphere. Since Arthur Kennelly (1861–1939) had made a similar prediction, the ionosphere was long known as the Kennelly-Heaviside layer. Heaviside's work on telephone theory made long-distance service practical. In his Electromagnetic Theory (1893–1912) he postulated that an electric charge would increase in mass as its velocity increased, anticipating one aspect of Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity. He also developed the system of mathematical transforms known as Heaviside calculus.