Questions tagged [potential]

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3 votes
1 answer
462 views

Why is electric potential denoted by $\phi$?

I haven't found any explanation for it, and I'm curious.
  • 139
2 votes
1 answer
115 views

Who introduced velocity potential?

Wikipedia cites John Anderson’s A History of Aerodynamics and says that velocity potential was introduced by Lagrange in 1788. However, I could trace it at least to Euler 1752, where he published his ...
  • 699
3 votes
1 answer
304 views

Who introduced gravitational potential?

Some sources say that gravitational potential was introduced by Lagrange in 1773, and others say that it was introduced by Bernoulli in 1738. I sifted through Daniel Bernoulli's Hydrodynamica (...
  • 699
1 vote
0 answers
34 views

Singularities on null capacity sets are removable — Wiener or Bouligand?

A classical theorem on harmonic functions states that singularities of bounded harmonic functions are removable if the singular set is of null capacity. This theorem is sometimes attributed to ...
  • 699
7 votes
1 answer
515 views

Who solved the particle-in-a-box model first?

I got curious who invented the particle-in-a-box model first. It is really simple and intuitive. I was googling to find the original author who suggested it but I only get textbook or webpages as ...
  • 95
1 vote
1 answer
251 views

What were Gauss's results on the attraction of homogenous ellipsoids in his paper from 1813?

I'm very curius to learn of the solution to the problem of the gravitational attraction of triaxial ellipsoid, both in his internal and external parts. From what i read, i understood that the solution ...
  • 4,087
0 votes
1 answer
101 views

Introduction of magnetic vector potential [duplicate]

Who first introduced the concept of magnetic vector potential and why? Was it introduced only for ease of mathematical calculation or it was done keeping in mind its physical significance like ...
0 votes
1 answer
198 views

Who invented/discovered the scalar potential?

This answer mentions Franz Ernst Neumann as the inventor of the vector potential, but who invented or discovered the scalar potential?
  • 5,211
5 votes
2 answers
878 views

Who discovered the magnetic vector potential, $\vec{A}$?

Neither Maxwell’s fundamental differential equations on electromagnetism nor Einstein’s first papers considered the magnetic vector potential A. So who discovered, formulated or used A for the first ...