JAMES CLERK MAXWELL: BIOGRAPHY AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENCE - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

James Clerk Maxwell (1831 - 1879) was a scientist of Scottish origin who specialized in the area of ​​mathematical physics and whose contributions marked a before and after in the history of this science.

Considered to be one of the most important scientists on record, he was recognized especially for the formulation of the theory of electromagnetic radiation. His idea laid the foundation on which the radio that is known today is built.

Unidentified photographer. Smithsonian Institution from United States, via Wikimedia Commons

In addition, this physicist also developed theories about the reason for the stability of the rings of Saturn, one of the planets of the solar system; He worked with the kinetics of gases, and is known to have been the first person to print a color photograph.

Clerk Maxwell's discoveries helped lay the foundation for modern physics. Many experts in the field consider him the most influential 19th century scientist in the field of 20th century physics.

The contributions he made in the scientific field are considered with the same level of importance as those made by Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein.

Biography

Early years

James Clerk Maxwell was born on June 13, 1831, in Edinburgh, Scotland, into a middle-class family. He was the only child of a couple who married late in life; his mother had him at 40 years of age.

His father, John Clerk Maxwell of Middlebie, a prominent lawyer, inherited his last name from an important family of the time. James's last name was synonymous with Scottish high society. Frances Cay was the name of her mother, a woman who belonged to a family with a high position in the society of the time.

Shortly after the Clerk's birth, the family moved into a country house called Glenlair House, which was located in Middlebie Village and Parish.

First studies

When Maxwell was approximately eight years old, in 1839, his mother passed away after suffering from abdominal cancer. After the event, Clerk began to receive classes from a tutor who claimed that the young man had problems learning due to the amount of time it took him to memorize the information.

However, Clerk Maxwell showed great curiosity at an early age and a remarkable ability to learn new ideas. Shortly after he began seeing private lessons, his aunt sent him to school at the Edinburgh Academy in 1841, where he made friends with people who shaped his future.

Despite his remarkable curiosity to learn, the study program he received at school did not interest him. For this reason, he began to lean towards science, to the point that he published his first article related to this area when he was only 14 years old.

In the essay, Clerk Maxwell described a series of oval curves that could be traced with pins and threads by analogy, with an ellipse. His interest in geometry and mechanical models continued throughout his life as a student and helped him during his time as a researcher.

Higher education

At 16 years of age, James Clerk Maxwell began studies at the University of Edinburgh, one of the most important in Scotland. During the period of time that he remained at this institution, he published two scientific articles of his own authorship.

In addition, the physicist devoted several hours of study in addition to those he received at the university. He came to experiment with the improvisation of chemical, electrical and magnetic devices inside the house in which he lived.

Part of these practices helped him to discover photoelasticity (a means that determines the distribution of stress in physical structures).

In 1850, when the physicist was approximately 19 years old, he entered the University of Cambridge and his intellectual abilities began to be recognized. At the Cambridge institution he had William Hopkins as professor of mathematics, who considered Maxwell one of his most important students.

Four years after beginning his studies at this institution, in 1854, he was awarded the Smith's Prize. This prestigious award was given to him for conducting an essay on original scientific research.

In addition, he was chosen for a scholarship, an opportunity that he rejected to return to Scotland to care for his father, who was in a precarious health situation.

Personal loss and marriage

In 1856 he was appointed as a professor of natural philosophy at the Marischal College, but his father died before his appointment, which meant a significant loss for the physicist due to the strong ties that united him with his father.

The scientist was approximately 15 years younger than the other professors who taught at Colegio Marischal; however, this was not an impediment for him to generate a strong commitment to the position he had assumed. He was eagerly developing new study programs and scheduled conferences with students.

Two years later, in 1858, he married Katherine Mary Dewar, the daughter of the principal of Marischal College. They never had children together. Years later, he was appointed as professor of natural philosophy at King's College, London, England.

Advances in the professional area

The next five years were the most positive of his career thanks to the scientific achievements he achieved. In this period of time, he published two articles that addressed the subject of the electromagnetic field and carried out a demonstration of color photography.

In addition, he also carried out theoretical and experimental work on the viscosity of gases. The importance he obtained in the scientific area made him worthy of being a member of the Royal Scientific Society in 1861.

On the other hand, he was in charge of supervising the experimental determination of electrical units for the British Association. His contributions in the field of science led to the creation of the National Physics Laboratory.

He also made important contributions to the theories of the speed of light, thanks to the measurement of the proportion of electromagnetic and electrostatic units of electricity.

Contributions to science

In 1865, the physicist resigned from his job at King's College to retire to his estate in Glenlair. He made multiple trips to London and Italy and a few years later began to write a treatise on electricity and magnetism.

Research

Maxwell's research on electromagnetism was of such importance that the scientist began to be considered one of the most important in history.

In the Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, which was published in 1873, his main goal was the conversion of Michael Faraday's physical ideas into a mathematical formula. He tried to understandably illustrate Faraday's ideas.

The investigations that he carried out with respect to this law allowed the scientist to make important discoveries for the area of ​​physics, as far as the corresponding information on the speed of light is concerned.

The scientist was chosen in 1871 to serve as a professor in a new chair that had been opened at Cambridge. Following this proposal, he began to design the Cavendish Laboratory and supervised its construction. Despite having few students under his charge, he had a group of renowned scientists of the time.

Death

Eight years later, in 1879, Maxwell began to suffer from illness several times. Shortly after he returned to Glenlair; however, his health did not improve.

The scientist died on November 5, 1879 after suffering a short illness. His burial did not have public honors; He was buried in a small cemetery located in Scotland.

Contributions to science

Electromagnetism

The studies that Maxwell carried out on Faraday's law of induction, which stated that a magnetic field can change to an electromagnetic one, allowed him to make important discoveries in this scientific field.

By trying to make an illustration of this law, the scientist succeeded in constructing a mechanical model that resulted in a "displacement current", which could be the basis for transverse waves.

The physicist performed a calculation of the speed of these waves and discovered that they were very close to the speed of light. This led to a theory that suggested that electromagnetic waves could be generated in a laboratory, which was demonstrated years later by the scientist Heinrich Hertz.

This study by Maxwell allowed that, over the years, the radio we know today could be created.

Facts about Saturn's rings

During the scientist's youth, priority was given to explaining why the rings of Saturn kept rotating consistently around the planet.

Maxwell's research led to the essay On the Stability of the Motion of Saturn's Rings. The development of this essay earned Maxwell a scientific award.

The work concluded that Saturn's rings must be made up of masses of matter that are not related to each other. The study was awarded for the important contribution to science it made.

Maxwell's conclusions on this subject were verified more than 100 years later, in 1980, by a space probe sent towards the planet. The probe is the renowned Voyager, sent by NASA.

Investigation of the kinetic theory of gases

Maxwell was the first scientist to apply the methods of probability and statistics to describe the properties of a set of molecules, so he was able to show that the speeds of the molecules of a gas must have a statistical distribution.

Its distribution soon after became known as the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution law. In addition, the physicist investigated the properties that allow a gas to be transported as a function of changes in temperature and pressure on its viscosity, thermal conductivity and diffusion.

Color vision

Like other scientists of the time, Maxwell had a notable interest in psychology, particularly color vision.

For approximately 17 years, between 1855 and 1872, he published a series of investigations that he did on the perception of color, the inability to see colors and theories about this area. Thanks to them, he received a medal for one of his essays, entitled On the theory of color vision.

The research of some relevant scientists such as Isaac Newton and Thomas Young served as a basis for conducting research on the subject. However, the physicist had a particular interest in the perception of color in photography.

After carrying out a psychological work on the perception of color, he determined that, if the sum of three lights could reproduce any color perceptible by the human being, color photographs could be produced using special filters to achieve this.

Maxwell proposed that if a photograph was taken in black and white using red, green and blue filters, the transparent impressions of the images could be projected onto a screen using three protectors equipped with similar filters.

The result of the experiment on color vision

The moment Mawell overlaid the image on the screen, he realized that the human eye would perceive the result as a complete reproduction of all the colors that were in the scene.

Years later, in 1861, during a conference at the Royal Institution on the theory of color, the scientist presented the first demonstration in the world about the use of color in photography. He used the results of his analysis to justify his ideas.

However, the results of the experiment were not as expected, due to a difference in pigmentation between the filters that he used to add the color.

Despite not having achieved the results he wanted, his research on the use of color in photography served as the basis for giving birth to color photography a few years later.

References

1. James Clerk Maxwell, Encyclopedia Britannica Editors, (2018). Taken from britannica.com
2. James Clerk Maxwell, Famous Scientist Portal, (nd). Taken from famousscientists.org
3. James Clerk Maxwell, Undiscovered Scotland Portal, (nd). Taken from undiscoveredscotland.co.uk
4. James Clerk Maxwell, English Wikipedia Portal, (nd). Taken from en.wikipedia.org
5. Who was James Clerk Maxwell, Portal The Maxwell at Glenlair Trust, (nd). Taken from org.uk