James Clerk Maxwell was a Scottish physicist best known for his contributions to electromagnetism. His works in physics also ushered in the major innovation of 20th-century physics such as the quantum theory and Electrical engineering. He is considered one of the greatest scientists of all time, next only to Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein.
James Clerk Maxwell was born in Edinburgh. As a child Maxvell was bright and curious. He wrote his first scientific paper at the age of 14, in which he had described the properties of ellipses, Cartesian ovals and related curves with more than two foci. At age 16, he entered the University of Edinburgh, where he published two more scientific papers in 1850 he went on to study at the University of Cambridge under William Hopkins, who is known for nurturing mathematical geniuses.
In 1854, Maxwell graduated from Trinity with a degree in mathematics and was made a fellow of Trinity in 1855 sooner than was the nom. He presented lectures on hydrostatics and optics in 1856, he left Cambridge to accept the professorship at Natural Philosophy at Marischal College. Aberdeen Here, he set out to unravel a mystery that had eluded scientists for two centuries. He studied the nature of Saturn’s rings. It was unknown how the rings of Saturn could remain stable without breaking up drifting away or crashing into Saturn After two years of research. Maxwell concluded that the rings were not made of solid or fluid, but of numerous small particles each independently orbiting Saturn.
In 1860, he was appointed to the professorship of natural philosophy at King’s College. London and it was here that Maxwell came up with his conceptual model for electromagnetic induction consisting of ting spinning cells of magnetic flux Maxvells work in electromagnetism was inspired by his analysis of work by scientists Michael Faraday, Andre Marie Ampere and Hans Christian Oersted. He then formulated the Jour Maxwells Equations which laid the foundation for Albert Einstein’s work on the special theory of relativity in producing these equations Maxvell was the first scientist ever to define electricity, magnetism, and light as different manifestations of the same phenomenon. Maxvell’s equations play the same role in electromagnetism that Newton’s laws of motion do in mechanics. We have to thank Maxwell for paving way for the inventions of devices such as radio, TV, microwave radar, microscope and telescope Colour vision, Kinetic theory and thermodynamics, and theory of the Electromagnetic Field are some of his other major contributions Maxvell died of cancer at the age of 48.
Picture Credit : Google
