The Whittaker-Maxwell Scaffolding. Scaffolding or template: what remains of a model when it is removed

Abstract

This paper discusses the metaphor, originating with Whittaker, according to which Maxwell's model of molecular vortices was the scaffolding by means of which the equations of electromagnetism were erected, removed afterwards without consequence for the building. It is argued here that the metaphor describes badly what happened, and it is shown that whoever upholds it today transcribes, within that same text, the quotations that belie it. The paper examines what was actually removed in 1865, which materials of the model still operate inside the equations under other names, and proposes in its place the figure of the template, taken from sheet-metal layout work. The discussion is situated with respect to the work of Daniel M. Siegel and Cameron Lazaroff-Puck, who maintain from the history of science the constitutive character of the model. It closes with a criterion for telling one case from the other.