Lecture Notes & Information

Syllabus (課程摘要)

Information sheet (課程資訊)

Lesson 01: Introduction (slides)

Lesson 02: Transmission lines fundamentals (slides)

Lesson 03: Transient response of transmission lines (slides)

Lesson 04: Steady-state response of transmission lines (slides)

Lesson 05: Vector analysis (slides)

Lesson 06: Electrostatics in free space (slides)

Lesson 07: Electrostatics in materials (slides)

Lesson 08: Boundary-value problems (slides)

Lesson 09: Capacitance, electrostatic energy (slides)

Lesson 10: Steady electric currents (slides)

Lesson 11: Magnetostatics in free space (slides)

Lesson 12: Magnetostatics in materials (slides)

Lesson 13 Inductance, magnetostatic energy, force and torque (slides)

Lesson 14: Maxwell's equations (slides)

Lesson 15: Wave equations of fields (slides)

Lesson 16: Plane waves in homogeneous media (slides, updated on 6/13)

Homework Library

HW01: Due date: 3/2 (Solutions)

HW02: Due date: 3/14 (Solutions)

HW03: Due date: 3/21 (Solutions)

HW04: Due date: 3/28 (Solutions)

HW05: Due date: 4/11 (Solutions)

HW06: Due date: 4/18 (Solutions)

HW07: Due date: 4/25 (Solutions)

HW08: Due date: 5/2 (Solutions)

HW09: Due date: 5/18 (Solutions)

HW10: Due date: 5/25 (Solutions)

HW11: Due date: 6/1 (Solutions)

HW12: Due date: 6/8 (Solutions)

HW13: Due date: 6/20

Hall of Fame

Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (1824~1887): German physicist. He formulated the circuit laws (Kirchhoff's voltage and current laws) as a seminar exercise while still a student in 1845. He is also known for the three laws of spectroscopy, describing the spectral composition of light emitted by incandescent objects.

René Descartes (1596~1650): Also known as Renatus Cartesius (Latin), French mathematician and philosopher. He worked to merge algebra and Euclidian geometry. In his "Discourse on Method" written in 1637, he introduced the idea of specifying the position of a point using two intersecting axes (Cartesian coordinate). He is dubbed as "Father of modern philosophy and mathematics" for his key role in the Scientific Revolution.

Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777~1855): German mathematician and scientist, known as "the prince of mathematicians". He gave a proof of "the fundamental theorem of algebra" in his 1799 dissertation. The "Divergence Theorem" was first discovered by Lagrange (1736~1813), then independently rediscovered by Gauss in 1813 and was first proven by Ostrogradsky in 1831. He significantly contributed to number theory, statistics (normal distribution), differential geometry, and magnetism.

George Gabriel Stokes (1819~1903): Irish mathematician and physicist. The first known statement of the "Stokes' Theorem" in vector calculus appeared in a letter from Lord Kelvin (1824~1907) to him. The theorem earned its name because Stokes included it in a prize exam of Cambridge University in 1854. Stokes also made great contributions in fluid dynamics, optics (polarization, fluorescence).

Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (1736~1806): French physicist. To improve the compass used in maritime navigation, he invented torsion balance, which would be latter used in his experiments about electrostatic  force between electric charges. He presented the results (Coulomb's law) in three memoirs  in 1785.

Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749~1827): French mathematician and astronomer. He translated Newton's mechanics based on geometry to physical mechanics based on calculus. In his 1784 memoir, he borrowed Lagrange's concept of potential and formulated Laplace's equation. He used Laplace transform (originally discovered by Euler) in his work on  probability theory.

Georg Simon Ohm (1789~1854): German physicist. He found the relation between voltage, current, and resistance (Ohm's law) based on experimental studies using electrochemical cell. His work was concluded in his 1827 book "The Galvanic Circuit Investigated Mathematically".

James Prescott Joule (1818~1889): English physicist. In opposite to the prevailing "carolic theory", Joule did a series of experiments in 1840s to demonstrate conversion of mechanical work into heat (4.159 J/cal, published in 1850). This led to the theory of conservation of energy. He also found the relationship between the current flow through a resistance and the heat dissipated (Joule's law).

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (1853~1928): Dutch physicist. He suggested that light originates from oscillation of charged particles in atom. This was proven by the experiment of Zeemann effect (spectral line shift in the presence of magnetic field) in 1896, and recognized by the 1905 Nobel prize. He paved the way of Einstein's special relativity by "Lorentz transformation" in 1904, describing effects of increase of mass, shortening of length, and time dilution of moving bodies. The discovery of Lorentz force was before Lorentz's time (seen in Maxwell's 1861 paper).

André-Marie Ampère (1775~1836): French physicist. By hearing of Orsted's discovery that a magnetic needle moves in the vicinity of an electric current, he formulated the quantitative relation between the electric current and the excited magnetic field (Ampère's theorem) and treated magnetism by postulating small closed circuits inside the magnetized materials (magnetic dipole) during 1820-1827. He also invented a way to measure current flow based on the mutual force between current-carrying wires (Ampère's law).

Jean-Baptiste Biot (1774~1862): French physicist. His fame chiefly results from the investigation of polarization rotation of light when passing through asymmetric (bifrefringent) aqueous molecules. Together with Savart in 1820, he showed the math formula relating magnetic field and steady current (Biot-Savart law).

Felix Savart (1791~1841): French physicist. He served as military engineer and surgeon in Napoleon's army during 1810-1814. Fascinated with the acoustics of musical instruments, he attended Biot's lecture in Paris in 1819. They carried out experiment to conclude Biot-Savart law, just months after Oersted's discovery of magnetic filed due to current-carrying wire in 1820.

Edwin Hall (1855~1938): American physicist. He discovered the Hall effect while working on his doctoral thesis in Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore in 1879. It is widely used in making magnetic field sensors in millions.

Michael Faraday (1791~1867): English experimental physicist. As a bookbinder apprentice, he educated himself by reading and attending lectures of Royal Institution. He was appointed as chemical assistant (1812), director of laboratory (1825), and professor (1833) of Royal Institution. In 1831, he found induced current as a result of current passing through another coil (mutual induction). The subsequent experiments concluded that a changing magnetic field produces an electric field (Faraday's law).

Nicola Tesla (1856~1943): Inventor and electric engineer. Born in Croatia (administrated by Austro-Hungarian Empire) as an ethnic Serb, he moved to the USA, working for Thomas Edison (1884) and with George Westinghouse (1888). He successfully promoted polyphase alternating-current power transmission systems, and contributed to radio transmission, induction motors, and wireless power transmission.

Heinrich Lenz (1804~1865): Estonian physicist. He worked at the University of St. Petersburg, Russia, during which he formulated Lenz's law in 1833. He also independently discovered Joule's law in 1842.

James Clerk Maxwell (1831~1879): Scottish mathematician and physicist. He modified and integrated mathematical formulas of previous works on electricity and magnetism into a coupled set of differential equations (Maxwell's equations, originally 20 equations in 20 variables) in 1864. His equations predicts the existence of electromagnetic waves propagating at the speed of light. In kinetic theory of gases, the Maxwell's distribution gives the fraction of gas molecules moving at a specified velocity at any given temperature (1866). He is also credited with the first color photograph (1861).

Hermann von Helmholtz (1821~1894): German physiologist and physicist. He proposed the principle of conservation of energy while studying muscle metabolism in 1847. He predicted electromagnetic radiation from Maxwell's equations (experimentally demonstrated by his student Hertz in 1886), and now the wave equation carries his name.

John Henry Poynting (1852~1914): English physicist. His work about electromagnetic energy flow (Poynting vector) and energy conservation for electric and magnetic fields (Poynting theorem) was first published in 1884.