Why Did George Green Write His Essay of 1828 on Electricity and Magnetism?

1. HONOUR TO GREEN. Among the centenaries of mathematicians and scientists celebrated in 1993, perhaps the most remarkable was the bicentenary of the birth of a professional miller and part-time mathematician, one George Green (1793-1841) of Sneinton, then near Nottingham. Among other achievements, he was the creator of theorems and functions now named after him which make him a principal contributor to potential theory and to its applications in mechanics and mathematical physics. During the week corresponding to that of his birth (which occurred on 14 July) various events took place. A three-day conference was held at the University of Nottingham, mainly on the use of his work in modern mathematics and physics. It included a visit to the mill at Sneinton, which had been restored and opened as a science centre in 1985. The next day a stained glass window was dedicated at the Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he was resident from 1833 to 1837 as an extremely mature student, and (only) for the winter of 1839-1840 as a Fellow. Finally, on Friday 16 July a meeting was held at the Royal Society of London on his life and work and the modern importance of the latter. It was followed by a quite exceptional event: the unveiling of a plaque in his memory in the floor of the nave of Westminster Abbey, close to the tomb of Isaac Newton and to the plaques for his first publicist Lord Kelvin, Michael Faraday and Clerk Maxwell. These events had been preceded by the publication in May of an excellent biography of Green (Cannell 1993) a daunting task to write, as his life is so obscure (for example, no surviving likeness or portrait has ever been found, and his manuscripts seem to have been destroyed). It is clear, though, that in virtual isolation at Sneinton he taught himself Continental mathematics, and produced first-class research work. It was published in 1828 (his 38th year) as a 72-page Essay on the Mathematical Analysis of Electricity and Magnetism (Green 1828), put out at his own expense with the help of a subscription list. Largely ignored during the author's lifetime, it has since been reprinted no less than seven times and translated into German. How and why was it created?