Legacy obituary: MAXWELL POWELL Obituary (2026) - New York, NY - New York Times
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James Clerk Maxwell was a Scottish physicist and mathematician who was responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and light as different manifestations of the same phenomenon. Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism achieved the second great unification in physics, where the first one had been realised by Isaac…
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science · Scottish physicist and mathematician (1831–1879) · physicist · mathematician · inventor · photographer · university teacher · theoretical physicist · teacher · thermodynamicist · scientist · also James Clerk Maxwell, Maxwell
Born 13 June 1831 · Died 5 November 1879 · Q9095
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Legacy obituary: MAXWELL POWELL Obituary (2026) - New York, NY - New York Times
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KSDK: The Record with Mark Maxwell (August 14, 2026)
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Awarded Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame (2012).
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“Encyclopaedia Britannica article, quoted by Patricia Fara in Science A Four Thousand Year History (2009) citing Simon Schaffer article in The Values of Precision (1995) ed. M. Norton Wise”
“Maxwell, on being told on his arrival at Cambridge University that there would be a compulsory 6 a.m. church service, as quoted in Spice in Science : The Best of Science Funnies (2006) by K. Krishna Murty”
Concluded that the seemingly impossible partial success of the red-filtered exposure was due to ultraviolet light, which is strongly reflected by some red dyes, not entirely blocked by the red filter used, and within the
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“in a letter to Lord Rayleigh, as quoted in John William Strutt, Third Baron Rayleigh (1924), p. 47.”
Was told by his host that he had done great things because he stood on Newton's shoulders; Einstein replied: "No I don't
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“Quotations from The Life of James Clerk Maxwell (1882) by Lewis Campbell and William Garnett, Full text online.”
Heaviside replaced the electromagnetic potential field by force fields as the centerpiece of electromagnetic theory
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Died 1879-11-05.
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“L'indagine sperimentale con cui Ampère ha stabilito la legge dell'azione meccanica fra correnti elettriche è uno dei passi avanti più importanti della scienza.”
“Senza dubbio il nome di van der Waals sarà presto annoverato fra i più eminenti della scienza molecolare.”
“La fede cristiana di Clerk Maxwell, radicata al fondo della sua mente, esercitava una funzione regolatrice nella scelta e nella formazione dei suoi principali concetti scientifici. (Thomas F. Torrance)”
“O Dio onnipotente, che hai creato l'uomo a tua propria immagine, e ne hai fatto un'anima vivente perché egli potesse cercarti e avere potere sulle tue creature, insegnaci a studiare l'opera delle tue mani.”
“El color que percibimos es una función de tres variables independientes, por lo menos son tres las que yo creo suficientes, pero el tiempo dirá si prosperan.”
“Abbiamo buoni motivi per dedurre che la luce stessa [...] è una perturbazione elettromagnetica sotto forma di onde che si propagano [...] secondo le leggi dell'elettromagnetismo.”
“L'importanza del lavoro di Maxwell per la storia del pensiero scientifico è comparabile con quella di Einstein (che ispirò) e di Newton (dal quale fu ispirato). (Ivan Tolstoy)”
“La ignorancia completamente consciente es el preludio de todo avance real en la ciencia».[Thoroughly conscious ignorance is the prelude to every real advance in science.”
“In tutto l'universo, ogni molecola reca impresso il marchio di un sistema di misura altrettanto nettamente quanto il metro degli Archivi di Parigi.”
“La luce per noi è l'unica prova dell'esistenza di questi mondi distanti.”
“The mathematical difficulties of the theory of rotation arise chiefly from the want of geometrical illustrations and sensible images, by which we might fix the results of analysis in our minds.”
“Podemos encontrar ejemplos de las más elevadas doctrinas de la ciencia en los juegos y la gimnasia, en los viajes por tierra y por agua, en las tormentas del cielo y del mar, y dondequiera que haya materia en movimiento.”
“The last poem of Maxwell, written to Hermann Stoffkraft, Ph.D. in 1878. Published in The Life of James Clerk Maxwell (1882) by Lewis Campell and William Garnett, it is pastiche of a passage from the lyrical drama, Prometheus Unbound, by the English romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley”
“Draft of a reply to an invitation to join the Victoria Institute (1875), in Ch. 12 : Cambridge 1871 To 1879, p. 404”
Constructed a plaster thermodynamic visualisation as a way of exploring phase transitions, based on the American scientist Josiah Willard Gibbs's graphical thermodynamics papers
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“A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (1873), Preface, p. xiii.”
“On Action at a Distance" Nature (Mar. 6, 1873) Vol VII, Issue 175, p. 343.”
“Thomson & Tait's Natural Philosophy" in Nature, Vol. 7 (Mar. 27, 1873) A review of Elements of Natural Philosophy (1873) by Sir W. Thomson, P. G. Tait. See Nature, Vol. 7-8, Nov. 1872-Oct. 1873, pp. 399-400, or The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell, p. 328.”
“A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (1873), §36.”
Returned to Cambridge to become the first Cavendish Professor of Physics
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Career landmark: Cavendish Professor of Physics (1871–1879).
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“Theory of Heat "Preface" (1871)”
“Introductory Lecture on Experimental Physics held at Cambridge in October 1871, re-edited by W. D. Niven (2003) in Volume 2 of The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell, Courier Dover Publications, p. 243.”
Maxwell returned to Cambridge as the first Cavendish Professor of Physics, overseeing the construction of the Cavendish Laboratory
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Established Maxwell's thermodynamic relations, which are statements of equality among the second derivatives of the thermodynamic potentials with respect to different thermodynamic variables
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And helped to establish the CGS system of measurement
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“On reciprocal figures, frames and diagrams of forces”
Won Keith Medal (1869).
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Proposed the thought experiment known as Maxwell's demon, which challenges how information affects entropy in thermodynamics
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Won Royal Society Bakerian Medal (1866).
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“The agreement of the results seems to show that light and magnetism are affections of the same substance, and that light is an electromagnetic disturbance propagated through the field according to electromagnetic laws”
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Demonstrated that electric and magnetic fields travel through space as waves moving at the speed of light, proposing that light is an undulation in the same medium that is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena
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“Letter to C. H. Cay, (Jan 5,1865) as quoted in American Journal of Physics, 44(8), page 470, 1976-08”
Maxwell resigned the chair at King's College, London, and returned to Glenlair with Katherine
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“A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field (1864) Introduction, p. 466, §20.”
“Letter to C. Hockin, Esq. (Sept 7, 1864) as quoted by Lewis Campbell, William Garnett, The Life of James Clerk Maxwell: With Selections from His Correspondence and Occasional Writings (1884)”
“Lecture at Kings College (1862) as quoted by F. V. Jones, "The Man Who Paved the Way for Wireless," New Scientist (Nov 1, 1979) p. 348 & Andrey Vyshedskiy, On The Origin Of The Human Mind 2nd edition”
Awarded Fellow of the Royal Society (1861).
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And showed that any colour can be produced with a mixture of any three primary colours, those being red, green, and blue, the basis for colour television
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Won Rumford Medal (1860).
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For his work on colour and was later elected to the Society in 1861
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Marischal College merged with the neighbouring King's College to form the University of Aberdeen
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For his essay "On the stability of the motion of Saturn's rings"; he was the only entrant to have made enough headway to submit an entry
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“Part III Poems, Tune, Il Segreto per esser felice (March 24, 1858)”
“Part III Poems, To the Air of "Lörelei." (January, 1858)”
Awarded Adams Prize (1857).
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Maxwell befriended the Reverend Daniel Dewar, who was then the Principal of Marischal
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“On a Dynamical Top, for exhibiting the phenomena of the motion of a system of invariable form about a fixed point, with some suggestions as to the Earth’s motion, read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh (20 April 1857); published in Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Vol. XXI, Part IV (1857).”
Awarded Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1856).
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“Essay "Analogies in Nature" (February 1856), reprinted in The Scientific Letters and Papers of James Clerk Maxwell: 1846-1862 edited by P.M. Harman, p. 376 (the quote appears on p. 383)”
Awarded Smith's Prize (1854).
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Where he earned distinction in mathematics and the Smith's Prize
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Maxwell graduated from Trinity with a degree in mathematics
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“Part III Poems, "On St. David's Day. To Mrs. E. C. Morrieson." (March 1, 1854)”
“Paper communicated to Frederic Farrar (1854) Æt. 23, as quoted in Lewis Campbell, William Garnett, The Life of James Clerk Maxwell: With Selections from His Correspondence and Occasional Writings (1884) pp. 144-145, and in Richard Glazebrook, James Clerk Maxwell and Modern Physics (1896) pp. 39-40.”
Studied at Trinity College (1851–1854).
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Attending both Church of Scotland (his father's denomination) and Episcopalian (his mother's denomination) services as a child, Maxwell underwent an evangelical conversion in April 1853.
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“Letter to Rev. C. B. Tayler ( 8 July 1853) in Ch. 6 : Undergraduate Life At Cambridge October 1850 to January 1854 — ÆT. 19-22, p. 189”
“Part III Poems, "Reflection from Various Surfaces" (April 18, 1853)”
“Part III Poems, "A Vision Of a Wrangler, of a University, of Pedantry, and of Philosophy. " (November 10, 1852)”
“Letter to Lewis Campbell (9 November 1851) in Ch. 6 : Undergraduate Life At Cambridge October 1850 to January 1854 — ÆT. 19-22, p. 159”
Studied at Peterhouse (1850–1851).
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“Letter to Lewis Campbell (9 November 1851) in Ch. 6 : Undergraduate Life At Cambridge October 1850 to January 1854 — ÆT. 19-22, p. 158”
Studied at University of Edinburgh (1847–1850).
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Studied at Edinburgh Academy (1841–1847).
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At age 16 and began attending classes at the University of Edinburgh
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“Maxwell, in a letter to William Thomson, The Scientific Letters and Papers of James Clerk Maxwell: 1846-1862 (1990), p. 245.”
At age ten, Maxwell was sent to the prestigious Edinburgh Academy
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His mother described this innate sense of inquisitiveness:
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Born 1831-06-13.
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