James Clerk Maxwell
Physicist who unified electricity, magnetism and light
Born 1831 · Died 1879
Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain
«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.»
James Clerk Maxwell wrote the equations showing that electricity and magnetism are a single force and that light is a wave of it. Einstein said his work was the most profound change in physics since Newton.
Key achievements
- Unified electricity, magnetism and light in four equations
- First Cavendish Professor and founder of the Cavendish Laboratory
- Produced the first colour photograph, 1861
Universities
Edinburgh, Scotland
Entered the university at sixteen in 1847 and published his first scientific paper at fourteen, before he arrived.
Cambridge, England
Studied at Trinity College and returned as the first Cavendish Professor of Physics in 1871, founding the Cavendish Laboratory.
Facts
- He produced the first colour photograph in 1861, of a tartan ribbon, by combining three images taken through coloured filters.
- He wrote his first paper on oval curves at fourteen, and it was read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh by someone else because he was considered too young.
- He proved mathematically that the rings of Saturn must be made of countless separate particles, over a century before spacecraft confirmed it.
Photographs
Photographs come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences; the author and licence are shown on each image.