James Clerk Maxwell, a precursor of system identification and control science

摘要

One hundred and fifty years ago James Clerk Maxwell published his celebrated paper ‘Dynamical theory of electromagnetic\udfield’, where the interaction between electricity and magnetism eventually found an explanation. However, Maxwell was\udalso a precursor of model identification and control ideas. Indeed, with the paper ‘On Governors’ of 1869, he introduced\udthe concept of feedback control system; and moreover, with his essay on Saturn’s rings of 1856 he set the basic principle of\udsystem identification. This paper is a tutorial exposition having the aim to enlighten these latter aspects of Maxwell’s work.