"LIGHTNESS OF BEING": ON THE ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD PROGRAM IN PHYSICS
The appearance and evolution of the electromagnetic field program in the 1880s and the 10s is considered. The physical basis of the program was the concept of the electromagnetic mass of J.J. Thomson and O. Heaviside. Various versions of this program are discussed, presented in the works of H. A. Lorentz, J. Larmor, E. Wiechert, as well as its radical version - in the works of 1. Abraham and V. Kaufman. The role of the electromagnetic field program in the emergence and adoption of the special theory of relativity, which led to the relativistic program, which came with the quantum program to replace the program of Abraham-Kaufman, was noted. A definite revival of the electromagnetic field program turned out to be connected with the nonlinear electrodynamics of G. Mi, which was used by D. Hilbert to construct his uniform field theory. This theory became the starting point in the emergence of a geometric field program.