Elements of tube in the foundations of the field concept

Abstract

This work discusses the construction of the concept field in the electromagnetic theory, in the second half of the 19th century, in Great Britain. The representation of fields by tubes was so fundamental to the british thoght that it motivated research led by William Thomson, later refined by Joseph John Thomson, to represent matter by atoms composed of tubes, which culminated in J. J. Thomson’s model of the atom.

Keywords
Faraday tubes; ether; J. J. Thomson; electromagnetism in the 19th century; field