The Genesis of Maxwell's Equations

The objective of this paper is to illustrate how Maxwell came to his mathematical constructs of the work done before him by Oersted, Ampere, Faraday, Gauss and so on, into a concise and precise mathematical form. In addition, the presentation will address two specific topics which are fundamental in engineering electromagnetic education: how did Maxwell reached the conclusion light was electromagnetic in nature and thereby revolutionizing the last century physics and the concept of displacement current.