James Clerk Maxwell

[Ouroboros]

A documentary about James Ckerk Maxwell was aired this evening. Well worth catching up with on iPlayer.  I knew about his famous electro-magnetic equations, his discovery that light is an EM wave, and his contribution to thermodynamics in the form of the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. I wasn't aware of his mathematical work explaining the nature of Saturn's rings or his work on colour. Also the fact that he was the founding director of the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge.  Fascinating stuff. 

[bob1957]

Maxwell was very much a man who was ahead of his time. The scientific community during his life had great difficulty understanding what his electromagnetic theory of light really meant. It is probably this and the fact that he died at a very early age meant that his genius has been so overlooked. Compared with Einstein the public generally has no idea who Maxwell was, but Einstein himself often paid tribute to Maxwell and also had a photograph of Maxwell on his study wall. For a first rate book on Maxwell's life, science and legacy read Basil Mahon's "The Man Who Changed Everything". Cheers, Bob

[goodricke1]

Referring to Maxwell's equations an awestruck Boltzmann said: 'Was it a god who created them?'

[JamesF]

Recording this now, as I missed it first time around.

James

[laudropb]

I find it very sad that he is not as well known as his discoveries deserve. I saw this documentary the last time it was aired and then read Mahon's book, both of which I would wholeheartedly recommend. He certainly deserves to be mentioned in the same way as Newton and Einstein.

[Physopto]

Excellent!

i just wish that instead on daft camera angles they actually had shown the maths in more detail. Each time the camera was on the blackboard it was at a side angle or the presenter got in front of the camera. They showed the maths on one board the stated it had been reduced to that on another. A short explanation of what the DEL symbol meant would have been a nice touch.

Derek

[ollypenrice]

Another for Mahon's book. Alas the documentary will be out of range for me.

Before reading Maxwell's biography I read one of Michael Faraday. Their lives and discoveries overlapped, interacted and contrasted in interesting and attractive ways. I couldn't help but be reminded of the Hooke-Newton pairing in the sense that Hooke was the intuitive and conceptual natural philosopher and Newton the mathematical one (though both were great experimentors.) However, while Hooke and Newton festered in mutual loathing and jealsousy, the affable Faraday and Maxwell shine through time as beacons of decency, generosity and co-operation. Faraday's lack of formal qualification was of no concern to Maxwell who was nothing but generous in acknowledging his debt to the older man. There can be little doubt that Newton owed a comparable debt to Hooke regarding gravitation but you won't hear that from Trinity College's most famous Unitarian! (Sorry, couldn't resist...)

Olly