  We present a topological mechanism of discretization, which gives for the
fundamental electric charge a value equal to the square root of the Planck
constant times the velocity of light, which is about 3.3 times the electron
charge. Its basis is the following recently proved property of the standard
linear classical Maxwell equations: they can be obtained by change of variables
from an underlying topological theory, using two complex scalar fields, the
level curves of which coincide with the magnetic and the electric lines,
respectively.
