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James Clerk Maxwell

File:James-Clerk-Maxwell-1831-1879.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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James Clerk Maxwell

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Also known as Maxwell

Scottish physicist (1831–1879)

OverviewAI-generated

James Clerk Maxwell was a male physicist, mathematician, inventor, and photographer born in Edinburgh in 1831. He was a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Maxwell was educated at the University of Edinburgh, Peterhouse, Edinburgh Academy, and Trinity College. His professional career included positions at King's College London, the University of Aberdeen, the University of Cambridge, and Marischal College, with work locations in Aberdeen and Cambridge.

He died of stomach cancer in Cambridge in 1879 and is buried in Westminster Abbey. Maxwell received several awards, including the Rumford Medal, Royal Society Bakerian Medal, and Keith Medal. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. His works are recognized in the Royal Society and American Academy Arts Sciences collections.

Synthesized by Vinony from 36 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, Vinony collections, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
1880
Works
12

Top works

  • The dawn of world-order
  • Education and world citizenship
  • Knowledge and character
  • Part-time secondary education
  • Education and world citizenship

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Group
Origin
Germany
Discogs

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
15
Total plays
19

<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/James+Clerk+Maxwell">Read more on Last.fm</a>

via Last.fm · James Clerk Maxwell

Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

  1. The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews

    · 2021 · cited 85,040x

  2. Special points for Brillouin-zone integrations

    · 1976 · cited 68,291x

  3. Fiji: an open-source platform for biological-image analysis

    · 2012 · cited 66,856x

  4. SciPy 1.0: fundamental algorithms for scientific computing in Python

    · 2020 · cited 36,510x

  5. Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach.

    · 1988 · cited 31,716x

via Crossref · CC0

Quotes

  • “Velocity of transverse undulations in our hypothetical medium, calculated from the electromagnetic experiments of 'MM'. Kohlrausch and Weber, agrees so exactly with the velocity of light calculated from the optical experiments of M. Fizeau, that we can scarcely avoid the conclusion that light consists in the transverse undulations of the same medium which is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena.”
  • “I have also cleared the electromagnetic theory of light from all unwarrantable assumption, so that we may safely determine the velocity of light by measuring the attraction between bodies kept at a given difference of potential, the value of which is known in electromagnetic measure.”
  • “I have also a paper afloat, with an electromagnetic theory of light, which, till I am convinced to the contrary, I hold to be great guns.”
  • “We may find illustrations of the highest doctrines of science in games and gymnastics, in travelling by land and by water, in storms of the air and of the sea, and wherever there is matter in motion.”
  • “The vast interplanetary and interstellar regions will no longer be regarded as waste places in the universe, which the Creator has not seen fit to fill with the symbols of the manifold order of His kingdom. We shall find them to be already full of this wonderful medium; so full, that no human power can remove it from the smallest portion of Space, or produce the slightest flaw in its infinite continuity.”
  • “It is of great advantage to the student of any subject to read the original memoirs on that subject, for science is always most completely assimilated when it is in the nascent state...”

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

James Clerk Maxwell FRS FRSE (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish physicist and mathematician who was responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and light as different manifestations of the same phenomenon. Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism achieved the second great unification in physics, where the first one had been realised by Isaac Newton. Maxwell was also key in the creation of statistical mechanics.

Maxwell graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1854, where he earned distinction in mathematics and the Smith’s Prize. He remained at Cambridge briefly, publishing early mathematical work and investigations into optics, particularly the principles of colour combination and colour-blindness. He later held the Chair of Natural Philosophy at Marischal College in Aberdeen, where he studied the rings of Saturn and correctly proposed that they were composed of numerous small particles, work that earned him the Adams Prize in 1859. During this time he married Katherine Mary Dewar, who assisted him in his laboratory work. From 1860 to 1865, he served as the Professor of Natural Philosophy at King’s College London, where he developed his theory of electromagnetic fields. His publication of "A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field" in 1865 demonstrated that electric and magnetic fields travel through space as waves moving at the speed of light, proposing that light is an undulation in the same medium that is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena. His unification of light and electrical phenomena led to his prediction of the existence of radio waves.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “James Clerk Maxwell” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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