James Clerk Maxwell
“The prevalence of a misdirected tendency proves the misdirection of a prevalent tendency. It is the object and nature of this tendency that calls for examination.”
A few days ago I finished reading “The Man who changed everything” and I came out incredibly impressed by James Maxwell as a scientist, thinker and human being.
Having studied physics and electrical engineering I was familiar with Maxwell’s equations and his work in electromagnetic waves but had no idea how much he contributed in so many diverse fiellds:
Maxwell the scientist:
Color vision: “Maxwell's major paper in optics, On the Theory of Colour Vision, was presented to the Royal Society of London in 1860 and was awarded the Rumford Medal. It showed that colour blindness was due to individuals being unable to recognise red light and conclusively proved his theory of three primary colours. Most of the experiments for this work were conducted in Maxwell's London home with the help of his wife, Katherine Mary Dewar daughter of the Principle of Marchisal College, Aberdeen. These were wonderfully constructed and made use of a colour box designed by Maxwell himself.”
Kinetic theory of Gases: “At this time the common conception had been that all the molecules in a gas travelled at the same speed but Maxwell noticed that these collisions would result in particles having different speeds. He realised that to advance in this area it was necessary to calculate the speeds of different molecules. Maxwell achieved this by creating the formula that is now known as Maxwell's Distribution. This was ground-breaking as it was the first time the matter had been considered to be probabilistic. Austrian physicist, Ludwig Boltzmann subsequently modified it, in 1868, to explain heat conduction, producing the Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution Law.”
Besides its direct application this work opened up an new approach to physics. Which led to statistical mechanics,, to a proper understanding of thermodynamics and to the use of probility distributions in quantum mechanics. (From the book -TMWCE)
“Most creative scientists, even the most prolific and versatile, produce one theory per subject. When that theory has run its course they move on to another topic, or stop inventing. Maxwell was unique in the way he could return to a topic and imbue it with new life by taking an entirely fresh approach.” (TMWCE)
His thought experiment: “Maxwell’s Demon” helped spark the creation of information theory.
His paper “On Governors” was the first mathematical analysis of control systems and became the foundation of modern control theory.
Maxwell the human:
Friend and Classmate: “Of Maxwell's geniality and kindness of heart you will have had many instances. Every one who knew him at Trinity can recall some kindness or some act of his which has left an ineffaceable impression of his goodness on the memory—for “good” Maxwell was, in the best sense of the word”
Advice from one of the greatest scientific minds of all time was dispensed with unfailing generosity and humour. His students loved him. (TMWCE)
He wrote funny poems, pocked fun at friends and colleagues (cf Richard Feynma/Claude Shannon)
“As he had been in health, so was he in sickness and in face of death. The calmness of his mind was never once disturbed. His sufferings were acute for some days after his return to Cambridge, and, even after their mitigation, were still of a kind to try severely any ordinary patience and fortitude. But they were never spoken of by him in a [412] complaining tone. In the midst of them his thoughts and consideration were rather for others than for himself.” (His Physician Dr Paget)
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