I remember my first look at the great treatise of
Maxwell's when I was a young man. Up to that time
there was not a single comprehensive theory, just
a few scraps; I was struggling to understand
electricity in the midst of a great obscurity.
When I saw on the table in the library the work
that had just been published (1873), I browsed
through it and I was astonished! I read the
preface and the last chapter, and several bits
here and there; I saw that it was great, greater
and greatest, with prodigious possibilities in its
power.  I was determined to master the book and
set to work. I was very ignorant. I had no
knowledge of mathematical analysis (having learned
only school algebra and trigonometry, which I had
largely forgotten), and thus my work was laid out
for me. It took me several years before I could
understand as much as I possibly could.  Then I
set Maxwell aside and followed my own course.  And
I progressed much more quickly.
(The Electrician, vol.46, pp.701-702, March, 1901)

電気工学の偉人 Oliver Heaviside が晩年に書いた追憶
の一節です。フィッツジェラルドは「マックスウェルの
論文は、彼の輝かしい猛攻撃の跡、塹壕を巡らした野営
の跡、戦闘の跡が累々として道を塞いでいる。ヘビサイ
ドはこれを一掃してまっすぐのルートを切り開き、広い
道をつくり、未開の土地を探検した」と語ったそうです
が、今私達がさしたる苦労もせずに Maxwell 方程式を
理解し、応用できるのはヘビサイドの洞察と努力により
その風景から意味までが変わってしまったためでした。