1 - Director's Message Currents Vol. In this issue, RLE's emphasis on the continuing exploitation of Maxwell's equations is described. There is a wide range of applications that utilize the innovative solutions of Maxwell's equations in diverse media with unique boundary conditions. For example, electromagnetic transmission and reflection through the atmosphere as well as other naturally occurring materials has been carefully studied for remote sensing applications.
Superconductivity provides an interesting, new domain for electromagnetic characterization.
Recently, microminiaturized motors have been studied and designed. It is this endless flow of innovative applications, coupled with the enduring fundamental basis provided by Maxwell and his followers, that facilitates the ongoing discovery of new phenomena and results. The RLE faculty in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science not only lead important research in this area, but also provide basic instruction for students interested in this field. Indeed, the many fascinating ways in which electromagnetic phenomena have been studied are constantly being used in these fundamental subjects.