The idea of particle instability in an electrostatic field originated with Samuel Earnshaw in 1839[REF] and was formalized by James Clerk Maxwell[REF] in 1874 who gave it the title "Earnshaw's theorem" and proved it with the Laplace equation.
Earnshaw's theorem holds that a charged particle suspended in an electrostatic field is unstable, because the forces of attraction and repulsion vary at an equal rate that is proportional to the inverse square law and remain in balance wherever a particle moves.