Oliver Heaviside (18.05.1850-03.02.1925) was an English physicist and mathematician and a Fellow of the Royal Society (1891). He was born in London. He worked for a telegraph company in Newcastle and in 1874 gave up the work because of progressive deafness. He carried out his scientific research in his own laboratory.
His main work in physics was in the field of electromagnetism and mathematical physics. He extended Maxwell's theory of the electromagnetic field, laid particular emphasis on the symmetry of the electric and magnetic fields, determined the fields created by various configurations of moving charges, and, independently of J. Poynting, considered the question of the flow of energy of the electromagnetic field and obtained the energy relations. He was the author of the five-volume monograph “Electromagnetic Theory”. Independently of J. Rayleigh he constructed (1886) the theory of the skin effect. He postulated (1902) the existence of an ionised layer of the atmosphere that reflects electromagnetic waves. He was one of the creators of operational calculus.