[https://www.biography.

com/scientist/james-c-maxwell]
Name
James C. Maxwell
Birth Date
June 13, 1831
Death Date
November 5, 1879
Did You Know?
Optics innovator James C. Maxwell took the first color photograph in 1861,
specifically of a tartan ribbon.
Education
University of Cambridge, King's College London, Marischal College, University of
Edinburgh, Edinburgh Academy
Place of Birth
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Place of Death
Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
AKA
James C. Maxwell
James Maxwell
Nickname
Father of Modern Physics
Full Name
James Clerk Maxwell

QUOTES
1 of 2
“We have strong reason to conclude that light itself—including radiant heat and
other radiation, if any—is an electromagnetic disturbance in the form of waves
propagated through the electromagnetic field according to electromagnetic laws.”
—James C. Maxwell
James C. Maxwell Biography
(1831–1879)

James C. Maxwell was a 19th-century pioneer in chemistry and physics who

articulated the idea of electromagnetism.
Who Was James C. Maxwell?
James C. Maxwell studied at the University of Cambridge before holding a variety of
professorship posts. Already known for his innovations in optics and gas velocity
research, his groundbreaking theories around electromagnetism, articulated in the
famed Maxwell's Equations, greatly influenced modern physics as we know it.
Academic Background
James Clerk Maxwell was born on June 13, 1831, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Having a
keen intellect from childhood, he had one of his geometry papers presented at the
Royal Society of Edinburgh during his adolescence. By 16 he'd enrolled at the
University of Edinburgh, pursuing a fervent interest in optics and color research.
He studied there for three years and eventually attended Cambridge University's
Trinity College, graduating in 1854.
After teaching at Trinity for a time, Maxwell moved on to Marischal College as part
of the physics faculty. He wed Katherine Mary Dewar in 1858.
Saturn's Rings
While at Marischal, Maxwell pondered a major astronomical question, looking at the
case of Saturn and coming up with the idea that the planet's rings are comprised of
particles, a theory later confirmed via 20th-century space probes. For this,
Maxwell received the Adam Prize.
Upon Marischal becoming part of the University of Aberdeen, Maxwell took on a
professor position at King's College in London. He taught there until 1865 when he
resigned from his post to do research from his home in Glenlair. Having continued
to do work with Cambridge University as well, Maxwell was instrumental in helping
to establish the institution's Cavendish Laboratory, and he took on roles there as
lab director and professor of experimental physics at the start of the 1870s.
Pioneer in Electromagnetism
Maxwell had continued his research on color and made ground breaking discoveries
around gas velocity. It was during Maxwell's time at King's College that he began
to share revolutionary ideas around electromagnetism and light.
Fellow physicist Michael Faraday had already championed the notion that electricity
and magnetics were connected; Maxwell, via experimentation with vortexes, expanded
on Faraday's work and came up with the theory of electromagnetic movement being
conceptualized in the form of waves, with said energy traveling at light speed.
Maxwell's Equations
Supporting his theorems, Maxwell's Equations—speaking to the scholar's aptitude in
using math to articulate scientific occurrences—were found in the paper "Dynamical
theory of the electromagnetic field," presented to the Royal Society of London in
1864 and published the following year. In 1873 he published the book A Treatise on
Electricity and Magnetism, which further expounded on his research.
Maxwell's other scientific contributions included producing the first color
photograph, taken in 1861, and creating structural engineering calculations for
bridge maintenance. He earned an array of awards over the course of his career,
including the Rumford Medal, Keith Prize and Hopkins Prize, in addition to
receiving membership in groups like the Royal Academy of Sciences of Amsterdam.
Other publications included Theory of Heat (1871) and Matter and Motion (1877).
Death and Legacy
Maxwell died in Cambridge, England, on November 5, 1879, from abdominal cancer. His
discoveries paved the way for much of the modern world's technological innovations
and continued to influence physics well into the next century, with thinkers like
Albert Einstein praising him for his indispensable contributions. Maxwell's
original house, now a museum, is the site of the James Clerk Maxwell Foundation