James Maxwell achievements. The most interesting discoveries of James Maxwell
On June 13, 1831, in Edinburgh, a boy named James was born into the family of an aristocrat from the old Clerk family. His father, John Clerk Maxwell, a member of the bar, had a university education, but did not like his profession and was interested in technology and science in his free hours. James's mother, Frances Kay, was the daughter of a judge. After the birth of the boy, the family moved to Middleby, the Maxwell family estate in the south of Scotland. Soon John built there new house, named Glenlar.
The childhood of the future great physicist was darkened only by the too early death of his mother. James grew up as an inquisitive boy and, thanks to his father's hobbies, was surrounded from childhood with "technical" toys, such as a model of the celestial sphere and the "magic disk", a precursor to cinema. Nevertheless, he was also interested in poetry and even wrote poetry himself, by the way, not leaving this activity until the end of his days. James's father gave him primary education - the first home teacher was hired only when James was ten years old. True, the father quickly realized that such training was not at all effective, and sent his son to Edinburgh, to his sister Isabella. Here James entered the Edinburgh Academy, where children were given a purely classical education - Latin, Greek, ancient literature, Holy Bible and a little math. The boy did not immediately like studying, but gradually he became the best student in the class and became interested primarily in geometry. At this time he invented his own method of drawing ovals.
At the age of sixteen, James Maxwell graduated from the academy and entered the University of Edinburgh. Here he finally became interested in the exact sciences, and already in 1850 the Royal Society of Edinburgh recognized his work on the theory of elasticity as serious. In the same year, James's father agreed that his son needed a more prestigious education, and James went to Cambridge, where he first studied at Peterhouse College, and in the second semester transferred to Trinity College. Two years later, Maxwell received a university scholarship for his success. However, at Cambridge he did very little science - he read more, made new acquaintances and actively moved among university intellectuals. At this time, his religious views were also formed - unconditional faith in God and skepticism towards theology, which James Maxwell put in last place among other sciences. During his student years, he also became an adherent of the so-called “Christian socialism” and took part in the work of the “Workers’ College”, giving popular lectures there.
At twenty-three, James passed the final exam in mathematics, finishing second on the student list. Having received his bachelor's degree, he decided to stay at the university and prepare for the rank of professor. He taught, continued to collaborate with the Workers' College, and began a book on optics, which he never finished. At the same time, Maxwell created an experimental comic study that became part of Cambridge folklore. The purpose of this study was “cat rolling” - Maxwell determined the minimum height from which a cat stands on its paws when falling. But James's main interest at that time was color theory, which originated from Newton's idea of the existence of seven primary colors. His serious interest in electricity dates back to the same time. Immediately after receiving his bachelor's degree, Maxwell began researching electricity and magnetism. On the question of the nature of magnetic and electrical effects, he accepted the position of Michael Faraday, according to which lines of force connect negative and positive charges and fill the surrounding space. But the correct results were obtained by the already established and rigorous science of electrodynamics, and therefore Maxwell asked himself the question of constructing a theory that included both Faraday’s ideas and the results of electrodynamics. Maxwell developed a hydrodynamic model of lines of force, and he also managed for the first time to express in the language of mathematics the laws discovered by Faraday - in the form of differential equations.
In the fall of 1855, James Maxwell, having successfully passed the required exam, became a member of the university council, which, by the way, meant at that time taking a vow of celibacy. With the beginning of the new semester, he began reading lectures on optics and hydrostatics at the college. However, in the winter he had to go to his native estate to transport his seriously ill father to Edinburgh. Returning to England, James learned that there was a vacancy for a teacher of natural philosophy at Aberdeen Marischal College. This place gave him the opportunity to be closer to his father, and Maxwell did not see any prospects for himself in Cambridge. In mid-spring 1856 he became professor at Aberdeen, but John Clerk Maxwell died before his son's appointment. James spent the summer on the family estate and left for Aberdeen in October.
Aberdeen was the main port of Scotland, but many of the departments of its university were sadly abandoned. In the very first days of his professorship, James Maxwell began to correct this situation, at least in his department. He worked on new teaching methods and tried to interest students in scientific work, but was not successful in this endeavor. The new professor's lectures, full of humor and wordplay, dealt with very complex things, and this fact scared off most of the students, accustomed to the popularity of the presentation, the lack of demonstrations and the neglect of mathematics. Of the eight dozen students, Maxwell was able to teach only a few people who really wanted to learn.
In Aberdeen, Maxwell also arranged his personal life - in the summer of 1858 he married the youngest daughter of the college principal Marischal, Catherine Dewar. Immediately after the wedding, James was expelled from the council of Trinity College for violating his vow of celibacy.
Back in 1855, Cambridge offered work on the study of the rings of Saturn for the prestigious Adams Prize, and it was James Maxwell who won the prize in 1857. But he was not content with the prize and continued to develop the topic, eventually publishing the treatise “On the stability of the motion of Saturn’s rings” in 1859, which instantly gained recognition among scientists. The treatise was said to be the most brilliant application of mathematics to physics in existence. During his professorship at Aberdeen College, Maxwell also worked on the topic of light refraction, geometric optics and, most importantly, the kinetic theory of gases. In 1860, he built the first statistical model of microprocesses, which became the basis for the development of statistical mechanics.
The professorial position at the University of Aberdeen suited Maxwell quite well - the college required his presence only from October to May, and the rest of the time the scientist was completely free. An atmosphere of freedom reigned in the college, professors did not have strict responsibilities, and in addition, every week Maxwell gave paid lectures at the Aberdeen Scientific School for mechanics and artisans, whose training he was always interested in. This remarkable state of affairs changed in 1859, when it was decided to unite the two colleges of the university, and the position of professor in the department of natural philosophy was abolished. Maxwell tried to get the same position at the University of Edinburgh, but the post went through competition to his old friend Peter Tat. In June 1860, James was offered a professorship in the department of natural philosophy at King's College in the capital. That same month, he gave a talk on his research into color theory and was soon awarded the Rumford Medal for his work in optics and color mixing. However, he spent all the remaining time before the start of the semester in Glenlare, the family estate - and not in scientific studies, but seriously ill with smallpox.
Being a professor in London turned out to be much less pleasant than in Aberdeen. King's College had superbly equipped physics laboratories and revered experimental science, but it also taught many more students. Work left Maxwell only time for home experiments. However, in 1861 he was included in the Standards Committee, which was tasked with defining the basic units of electricity. Two years later, the results of careful measurements were published, which in 1881 served as the basis for the adoption of the volt, ampere and ohm. Maxwell continued his work on the theory of elasticity, created Maxwell's theorem, which considers stress in trusses using graphostatic methods, and analyzed the equilibrium conditions of spherical shells. For these and other works of significant practical importance, he received the Keith Prize from the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In May 1861, while giving a lecture on color theory, Maxwell presented very convincing evidence that he was right. This was the world's first color photograph.
But James Maxwell's greatest contribution to physics was the discovery of current. Having come to the conclusion that electric current has a translational nature, and magnetism has a vortex nature, Maxwell created a new model - a purely mechanical one, according to which “molecular vortices produce” a rotating magnetic field, and “idler transmission wheels” ensure their one-way rotation. Formation electric current was ensured by the translational movement of transmission wheels (according to Maxwell - “particles of electricity”), and the magnetic field, being directed along the axis of vortex rotation, turned out to be perpendicular to the direction of the current. This was expressed in the “gimlet rule”, which Maxwell substantiated. Thanks to his model, he was able not only to clearly illustrate the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction and the vortex nature of the field that generates current, but also to prove that changes in the electric field, called displacement current, lead to the emergence of a magnetic field. Well, the displacement current gave an idea of the existence of open currents. In his article “On physical lines of force” (1861-1862), Maxwell outlined these results, and also noted the similarity of the properties of the vortex medium with the properties of the luminiferous ether - and this was a serious step towards the emergence of the electromagnetic theory of light.
Maxwell's article on the dynamic theory of electrical magnetic field was published in 1864, and in it the mechanical model was replaced by “Maxwell’s equations” - a mathematical formulation of the field equations - and the field itself was treated for the first time as a real physical system with a certain energy. In this article, he predicted the existence of not only magnetic, but also electromagnetic waves. In parallel with the study of electromagnetism, Maxwell conducted several experiments, testing his results in the kinetic theory. Having constructed a device that determined the viscosity of air, he became convinced that the coefficient of internal friction really does not depend on density.
In 1865, Maxwell was finally tired of his teaching activities. It is not surprising - his lectures were too difficult to maintain discipline in them, and scientific work, unlike teaching, occupied all his thoughts. The decision was made, and the scientist moved to his native Glenlar. Almost immediately after moving, he was injured while riding a horse and fell ill with erysipelas. Having recovered, James actively took up farming, rebuilding and expanding his estate. However, he did not forget about the students - he regularly traveled to London and Cambridge to take exams. It was he who achieved the introduction of questions and problems of an applied nature into the exams. At the beginning of 1867, a doctor advised Maxwell's often ill wife to undergo treatment in Italy, and the Maxwells spent the entire spring in Florence and Rome. Here the scientist met with Professor Matteuci, an Italian physicist, and practiced foreign languages. By the way, Maxwell had a good command of Latin, Italian, Greek, German and French. The Maxwells returned to their homeland through Germany, Holland and France.
That same year, Maxwell composed a poem dedicated to Peter Tait. The comic ode was called “To the Chief Musician of Nabla” and was so successful that it established in science a new term “nabla”, derived from the name of an ancient Assyrian musical instrument and denoting the symbol of a vector differential operator. Note that Maxwell owes his friend Tait, who together with Thomson presented the second law of thermodynamics as JCM = dp/dt, his own pseudonym, which he used to sign his poems and letters. The left side of the formula coincided with James's initials, and therefore he decided to use the right side - dp/dt - as a signature.
In 1868, Maxwell was offered the post of rector at the University of St. Andrews, but the scientist refused, not wanting to change his secluded lifestyle in Glenlare. Only three years later, after much deliberation, he headed the physics laboratory that had just opened in Cambridge and, accordingly, became a professor of experimental physics. Having agreed to this post, Maxwell immediately began to establish construction works and equip the laboratory (first with its own instruments). At Cambridge he began to teach courses in electricity, heat and magnetism.
Also in 1871, Maxwell’s textbook “Theory of Heat” was published, which was subsequently reprinted several times. The last chapter of the book contained the basic postulates of molecular kinetic theory and Maxwell's statistical ideas. Here he refuted the second law of thermodynamics, formulated by Clausius and Thomson. This formulation predicted the "heat death of the Universe" - a purely mechanical point of view. Maxwell asserted the statistical nature of the notorious “second law,” which, according to his conviction, can only be violated by individual molecules, while remaining valid in the case of large aggregates. He illustrated this position with a paradox called “Maxwell’s demon.” The paradox lies in the ability of the “demon” (the control system) to reduce the entropy of this system without expending work. This paradox was resolved in the twentieth century by pointing out the role that fluctuations play in the control element and proving that when the “demon” receives information about molecules, it increases entropy, and therefore there is no violation of the second law of thermodynamics.
Two years later, Maxwell’s two-volume work, entitled “Treatise on Magnetism and Electricity,” was published. It contained Maxwell's equations, which led to Hertz's discovery of electromagnetic waves (1887). The treatise also proved the electromagnetic nature of light and predicted the effect of light pressure. Based on this theory, Maxwell explained the influence of the magnetic field on the propagation of light. However, this fundamental work was very coolly received by the luminaries of science - Stokes, Thomson, Airy, Tait. The concept of the notorious displacement current, which according to Maxwell exists even in the ether, that is, in the absence of matter, turned out to be especially difficult to understand. In addition, Maxwell's style, which was sometimes very chaotic in presentation, greatly interfered with perception.
The laboratory in Cambridge, named after Henry Cavendish, opened in June 1874, and the Duke of Devonshire ceremonially handed over Cavendish's manuscripts to James Maxwell. For five years, Maxwell studied the legacy of this scientist, reproduced his experiments in the laboratory, and in 1879, under his editorship, published the collected works of Cavendish, which consisted of two volumes.
About ten recent years Throughout his life, Maxwell was involved in the popularization of science. In his books, written precisely for this purpose, he more freely expressed his ideas and views, shared doubts with the reader and talked about problems that were not yet solvable at that time. At the Cavendish Laboratory he continued to develop very specific questions concerning molecular physics. Two of him last works published in 1879 - about the theory of rarefied inhomogeneous gases and the distribution of gas under the influence of centrifugal forces. He also performed many duties at the university - he was on the council of the university senate, on the commission for reforming the mathematical exam, and served as president of the philosophical society. In the seventies, he had students, among whom were future famous scientists George Crystal, Arthur Shuster, Richard Glazeburg, John Poynting, Ambrose Fleming. Both Maxwell's students and collaborators noted his focus, ease of communication, insight, subtle sarcasm and complete lack of ambition.
In the winter of 1877, Maxwell showed the first symptoms of the disease that would kill him, and two years later doctors diagnosed him with cancer. The great scientist died in Cambridge on November 5, 1879, at the age of forty-eight. Maxwell's body was transported to Glenlare and buried not far from the estate, in a modest cemetery in the village of Parton.
James Clerk Maxwell's role in science was not fully appreciated by his contemporaries, but the importance of his work was undeniable for the next century. Richard Feyman, an American physicist, said that the discovery of the laws of electrodynamics is the most significant event of the nineteenth century, compared to which the Civil War in the United States, which occurred at the same time, pales in comparison...
International University of Nature, Society and Human "Dubna"
Department of Sustainable Innovative Development
RESEARCH WORK
on the topic of:
"Contributions to Science by James Clerk Maxwell"
Completed by: Pleshkova A.V., gr. 5103
Checked by: Bolshakov B. E.
Dubna, 2007
The formulas we arrive at must be such that a representative of any nation, substituting numerical values of quantities measured in its national units instead of symbols, would obtain the correct result.
J.C. Maxwell
Biography 5
Discoveries of J. C. Maxwell 8
Edinburgh. 1831-1850 8
Childhood and school years 8
First opening 9
Edinburgh University 9
Optical-mechanical research 9
1850-1856 Cambridge 10
Electricity classes 10
Aberdeen 1856-1860 12
Treatise on the Rings of Saturn 12
London - Glenlair 1860-1871 13
First color photograph 13
Probability theory 14
Mechanical Maxwell Model 14
Electromagnetic waves and electromagnetic theory of light 15
Cambridge 1871-1879 16
Cavendish Laboratory 16
World recognition 17
Dimension 18
Law of Conservation of Power 22
List of used literature 23
Introduction
Today, the views of J. C. Maxwell, one of the greatest physicists of the past, whose name is associated with fundamental scientific achievements included in the gold fund modern science. Maxwell is interesting to us as an outstanding methodologist and historian of science, who deeply understood the complexity and inconsistency of the process of scientific research. Analyzing the relationship between theory and reality, Maxwell exclaimed in shock: “But who will lead me into the still more hidden nebulous region where Thought is combined with Fact, where we see the mental work of the mathematician and the physical action of molecules in their true proportions? Does not the road to them pass through the very lair of metaphysicians, strewn with the remains of previous explorers and instilling horror in every man of science?.. In our daily work we come to questions of the same kind as metaphysicians, but without relying on the innate insight of our minds, we approach them prepared by long-term adaptation of our way of thinking to the facts of external nature.” (James Clerk Maxwell. Articles and speeches. M., “Science”, 1968. P.5).Biography
Born into the family of a Scottish nobleman from a noble family of Clerks. He studied first at Edinburgh (1847-1850), then at Cambridge (1850-1854) universities. In 1855 he became a member of the council of Trinity College, in 1856-1860. was a professor at Marischal College, University of Aberdeen, and from 1860 headed the department of physics and astronomy at King's College, University of London. In 1865, due to a serious illness, Maxwell resigned from the department and settled on his family estate of Glenlare near Edinburgh. He continued to study science and wrote several essays on physics and mathematics. In 1871 he took the chair of experimental physics at the University of Cambridge. He organized a research laboratory, which opened on June 16, 1874 and was named Cavendish in honor of G. Cavendish.
Your first scientific work Maxwell did this while still in school, coming up with a simple way to draw oval shapes. This work was reported at a meeting of the Royal Society and even published in its Proceedings. While a member of the Council of Trinity College, he was involved in experiments on color theory, acting as a continuator of Jung's theory and Helmholtz's theory of three primary colors. In experiments on color mixing, Maxwell used a special top, the disk of which was divided into sectors painted in different colors (Maxwell disk). When the top rotated quickly, the colors merged: if the disk was painted in the same way as the colors of the spectrum, it appeared white; if one half of it was painted red and the other half yellow, it appeared orange; mixing blue and yellow created the impression of green. In 1860, Maxwell was awarded the Rumford Medal for his work on color perception and optics.
In 1857, Cambridge University announced a competition for better job about the stability of Saturn's rings. These formations were discovered by Galileo at the beginning of the 17th century. and presented an amazing mystery of nature: the planet seemed surrounded by three continuous concentric rings, consisting of a substance of an unknown nature. Laplace proved that they cannot be solid. After conducting a mathematical analysis, Maxwell became convinced that they could not be liquid, and came to the conclusion that such a structure could only be stable if it consisted of a swarm of unrelated meteorites. The stability of the rings is ensured by their attraction to Saturn and the mutual movement of the planet and meteorites. For this work, Maxwell received the J. Adams Prize.
One of Maxwell's first works was his kinetic theory of gases. In 1859, the scientist gave a report at a meeting of the British Association in which he presented the distribution of molecules by speed (Maxwellian distribution). Maxwell developed the ideas of his predecessor in the development of the kinetic theory of gases by R. Clausius, who introduced the concept of “mean free path”. Maxwell proceeded from the idea of a gas as an ensemble of many ideally elastic balls moving chaotically in a closed space. Balls (molecules) can be divided into groups according to speed, while in a stationary state the number of molecules in each group remains constant, although they can leave and enter groups. From this consideration it followed that “particles are distributed by speed according to the same law as observational errors are distributed in the theory of the method least squares, i.e. in accordance with Gaussian statistics." As part of his theory, Maxwell explained Avogadro's law, diffusion, thermal conductivity, internal friction (transfer theory). In 1867 he showed the statistical nature of the second law of thermodynamics (“Maxwell’s demon”).
In 1831, the year Maxwell was born, M. Faraday carried out classical experiments that led him to the discovery of electromagnetic induction. Maxwell began to study electricity and magnetism about 20 years later, when there were two views on the nature of electric and magnetic effects. Scientists such as A. M. Ampere and F. Neumann adhered to the concept of long-range action, considering electromagnetic forces as an analogue gravitational attraction between two masses. Faraday was an advocate of the idea of lines of force that connect positive and negative electrical charges or the north and south poles of a magnet. Lines of force fill the entire surrounding space (field, in Faraday's terminology) and determine electrical and magnetic interactions. Following Faraday, Maxwell developed a hydrodynamic model of lines of force and expressed the then known relations of electrodynamics in a mathematical language corresponding to Faraday's mechanical models. The main results of this research are reflected in the work “Faraday’s Lines of Force” (Faraday’s Lines of Force, 1857). In 1860-1865 Maxwell created the theory of the electromagnetic field, which he formulated in the form of a system of equations (Maxwell's equations) describing the basic laws of electromagnetic phenomena: the 1st equation expressed Faraday's electromagnetic induction; 2nd - magnetoelectric induction, discovered by Maxwell and based on ideas about displacement currents; 3rd - the law of conservation of electricity; 4th - vortex nature of the magnetic field.
Continuing to develop these ideas, Maxwell came to the conclusion that any changes in the electric and magnetic fields must cause changes in the lines of force that penetrate the surrounding space, that is, there must be pulses (or waves) propagating in the medium. The speed of propagation of these waves (electromagnetic disturbance) depends on the dielectric and magnetic permeability of the medium and is equal to the ratio of the electromagnetic unit to the electrostatic one. According to Maxwell and other researchers, this ratio is 3x1010 cm/s, which is close to the speed of light measured seven years earlier by the French physicist A. Fizeau. In October 1861, Maxwell informed Faraday of his discovery: light is an electromagnetic disturbance propagating in a non-conducting medium, that is, a type of electromagnetic wave. This final stage of research is outlined in Maxwell's work " Dynamic theory electromagnetic field" (Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, 1864), and the result of his work on electrodynamics was summed up by the famous "Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism". (1873)
In the last years of his life, Maxwell was engaged in preparing for printing and publishing Cavendish's manuscript heritage. Two large volumes were published in October 1879.
Discoveries of J. C. Maxwell
Edinburgh. 1831-1850
Childhood and school years
On June 13, 1831, in Edinburgh, at number 14 India Street, Frances Kay, the daughter of an Edinburgh judge, after her marriage to Mrs. Clerk Maxwell, gave birth to a son, James. On this day, nothing significant happened all over the world; the main event of 1831 had not yet happened. But for eleven years the brilliant Faraday has been trying to comprehend the secrets of electromagnetism, and only now, in the summer of 1831, he picked up the trail of the elusive electromagnetic induction, and James will be only four months old when Faraday sums up his experiment “to obtain electricity from magnetism.” And thereby opens new era- the era of electricity. The era for which little James, a descendant of the glorious families of the Scottish Clerks and Maxwells, will live and create.James's father, John Clerk Maxwell, a lawyer by profession, hated the law and had a dislike, as he himself said, for "dirty lawyering." Whenever the opportunity arose, John stopped his endless shuffling around the marble vestibules of the Edinburgh court and devoted himself to scientific experiments, which he did casually, amateurishly. He was an amateur, he was aware of this and took it hard. John was in love with science, with scientists, with practical people, with his learned grandfather George. It was the attempts to construct bellows, which were carried out jointly with his brother Frances Kay, that brought him together with his future wife; the wedding took place on October 4, 1826. The bellows never worked, but a son, James, was born.
When James was eight, his mother died and he was left to live with his father. His childhood is filled with nature, communication with his father, books, stories about his relatives, “scientific toys,” and his first “discoveries.” James's family was concerned that he was not receiving a systematic education: random reading of everything in the house, astronomy lessons on the porch of the house and in the living room, where James and his father built a “celestial globe.” After an unsuccessful attempt to study with a private teacher, from whom James often ran away to more exciting activities, it was decided to send him to study in Edinburgh.
Despite being educated at home, James met the high standards of the Edinburgh Academy and was enrolled there in November 1841. His performance in the classroom was far from stellar. He could easily perform tasks better, but the spirit of competition in unpleasant activities was deeply alien to him. After the first day of school, he did not get along with his classmates, and therefore, more than anything else, James loved to be alone and look at the objects around him. One of the most bright events, undoubtedly, brightening up the dull school days, there was a visit with his father to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, where the first “electromagnetic machines” were exhibited.
The Royal Society of Edinburgh changed James' life: it was there that he received the first concepts of the pyramid, cube, and other regular polyhedra. The perfection of symmetry and the natural transformations of geometric bodies changed James’s concept of learning - he saw in learning a grain of beauty and perfection. When the time for exams came, the students of the academy were amazed - the “fools,” as they called Maxwell, became one of the first.
First discovery
If earlier his father occasionally took James to his favorite entertainment - meetings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, now visits to this society, as well as the Edinburgh Society of Arts, together with James became regular and obligatory for him. At the meetings of the Society of Arts the most famous and crowd-pulling speaker was Mr. D.R. Hey, decorative artist. It was his lectures that prompted James to make his first major discovery - a simple tool for drawing ovals. James found an original and at the same time very simple method, and most importantly, a completely new one. He described the principle of his method in a short “paper”, which was read at the Royal Society of Edinburgh - an honor that many have sought, but which was awarded to a fourteen-year-old schoolboy.Edinburgh University
Optical-mechanical research
In 1847, studies at the Edinburgh Academy ended, James was one of the first, the grievances and worries of the first years were forgotten.After graduating from the academy, James enters the University of Edinburgh. At the same time, he began to become seriously interested in optical research. Brewster's statements led James to the idea that studying the path of rays could be used to determine the elasticity of a medium in different directions, to detect stresses in transparent materials. Thus, the study of mechanical stresses can be reduced to an optical study. Two beams, separated in a tense transparent material, will interact, giving rise to characteristic colorful pictures. James showed that color paintings are completely natural in nature and can be used for calculations, for checking previously derived formulas, and for deriving new ones. It turned out that some formulas are incorrect, or inaccurate, or need amendments.
Fig. 1 is a picture of stresses in a stele triangle obtained by James using polarized light.
Moreover, James was able to discover patterns in cases where previously nothing could be done due to mathematical difficulties. A transparent and loaded triangle of untempered glass (Fig. 1) gave James the opportunity to study stresses in this calculable case.
Nineteen-year-old James Clerk Maxwell stood on the podium of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for the first time. His report could not go unnoticed: it contained too much new and original.
1850-1856 Cambridge
Electricity classes
Now no one questioned James' talent. He had clearly outgrown the University of Edinburgh and therefore entered Cambridge in the fall of 1850. In January 1854, James graduated with honors from the university with a bachelor's degree. He decides to stay in Cambridge to prepare for a professorship. Now that he does not need to prepare for exams, he gets the long-awaited opportunity to spend all his time on experiments and continues his research in the field of optics. He is especially interested in the question of primary colors. Maxwell's first article was called "The Theory of Colors in Connection with Color Blindness" and was not even an article, but a letter. Maxwell sent it to Dr. Wilson, who found the letter so interesting that he took care of its publication: he placed it in its entirety in his book on color blindness. And yet James is unconsciously drawn to deeper secrets, things much more unobvious than the mixing of colors. It was electricity, due to its intriguing incomprehensibility, that inevitably, sooner or later, had to attract the energy of his young mind. James accepted the fundamental principles of voltage electricity quite easily. Having studied Ampere's theory of long-range action, he, despite its apparent irrefutability, allowed himself to doubt it. The theory of long-range action seemed undoubtedly correct, because was confirmed by the formal similarity of laws and mathematical expressions for seemingly different phenomena - gravitational and electrical interaction. But this theory, more mathematical than physical, did not convince James; he was increasingly inclined to the Faraday perception of action through magnetic lines of force filling space, to the theory of short-range action.Trying to create a theory, Maxwell decided to use the method of physical analogies for research. First of all, it was necessary to find the right analogy. Maxwell always admired the then only noticed analogy existing between the issues of attraction of electrically charged bodies and the issues of steady-state heat transfer. James gradually built this, as well as Faraday’s ideas of short-range action and Ampere’s magnetic action of closed conductors, into a new theory, unexpected and bold.
At Cambridge, James is assigned to teach the most difficult chapters of hydrostatics and optics courses to the most capable students. In addition, he was distracted from electrical theories by work on a book on optics. Maxwell soon comes to the conclusion that optics no longer interests him as before, but only distracts him from the study of electromagnetic phenomena.
Continuing to look for an analogy, James compares the lines of force with the flow of some incompressible fluid. The theory of tubes from hydrodynamics made it possible to replace the lines of force with force tubes, which easily explained Faraday's experiment. The concepts of resistance, the phenomena of electrostatics, magnetostatics and electric current easily and simply fit into the framework of Maxwell's theory. But this theory did not yet fit into the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction discovered by Faraday.
James had to abandon his theory for some time due to the deterioration of his father's condition, which required care. When James returned to Cambridge after the death of his father, he was unable to obtain a higher master's degree due to his religion. Therefore, in October 1856, James Maxwell took up the chair in Aberdeen.
Aberdeen 1856-1860
Treatise on the Rings of Saturn
It was in Aberdeen that the first work on electricity was written - the article "On Faraday's Lines of Force", which led to an exchange of views on electromagnetic phenomena with Faraday himself.When James began his studies in Aberdeen, a new problem had already matured in his head, which no one could solve yet, a new phenomenon that had to be explained. These were Saturn's rings. To determine their physical nature, to determine them from millions of kilometers away, without any instruments, using only paper and a pen, was a task as if for him. The hypothesis of a solid rigid ring disappeared immediately. The liquid ring would disintegrate under the influence of the giant waves that arose in it - and as a result, according to James Clerk Maxwell, there would most likely be a host of small satellites hovering around Saturn - “brick fragments”, in his perception. For his treatise on the rings of Saturn, James was awarded the Adams Prize in 1857, and he himself is recognized as one of the most authoritative English theoretical physicists.
Fig.2 Saturn. Photograph taken with the 36-inch refractor at Lick Observatory.
Fig.3 Mechanical models illustrating the movement of Saturn's rings. Drawings from Maxwell's essay “On the Stability of the Rotation of the Rings of Saturn”
London – Glenlair 1860-1871
First color photograph
In 1860, a new stage in Maxwell's life began. He was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy at King's College, London. King's College was ahead of many universities in the world in terms of the equipment of its physics laboratories. Here Maxwell is not just in 1864-1865. taught a course in applied physics, here he tried to organize the educational process in a new way. Students learned through experimentation. In London, James Clerk Maxwell first tasted the fruits of his recognition as a major scientist. For his research on color mixing and optics, the Royal Society awarded Maxwell the Rumford Medal. On May 17, 1861, Maxwell was offered the high honor of giving a lecture before the Royal Institution. The topic of the lecture is “On the theory of three primary colors.” At this lecture, as proof of this theory, color photography was demonstrated to the world for the first time!Probability theory
At the end of the Aberdeen period and at the beginning of the London period, Maxwell developed, along with optics and electricity, a new hobby - the theory of gases. Working on this theory, Maxwell introduces into physics such concepts as “probably”, “this event can occur with a greater degree of probability.”A revolution had taken place in physics, and many who listened to Maxwell's reports at the annual meetings of the British Association did not even notice it. On the other hand, Maxwell approached the limits of the mechanical understanding of matter. And he stepped over them. Maxwell's conclusion about the dominance of the laws of probability theory in the world of molecules affected the most fundamental foundations of his worldview. The declaration that in the world of molecules "chance reigns" was, in its boldness, one of the greatest feats in science.
Maxwell's mechanical model
Work at King's College required much more time than at Aberdeen - the lecture course lasted nine months a year. However, at this time, thirty-year-old James Clerk Maxwell is sketching out a plan for his future book on electricity. This is the embryo of the future Treatise. He devotes his first chapters to his predecessors: Oersted, Ampere, Faraday. Trying to explain Faraday's theory of lines of force, the induction of electric currents and Oersted's theory of the vortex-like nature of magnetic phenomena, Maxwell creates his own mechanical model (Fig. 5).The model consisted of rows of molecular vortices rotating in one direction, between which was placed a layer of tiny spherical particles capable of rotation. Despite its cumbersomeness, the model explained many electromagnetic phenomena, including electromagnetic induction. The sensational nature of the model was that it explained the theory of the action of a magnetic field at right angles to the direction of current, formulated by Maxwell (“the gimlet rule”).
Fig. 4 Maxwell eliminates the interaction of neighboring vortices A and B rotating in one direction by introducing “idler gears” between them
Fig.5 Maxwell's mechanical model for explaining electromagnetic phenomena.
Electromagnetic waves and electromagnetic theory of light
Continuing his experiments with electromagnets, Maxwell came closer to the theory that any changes in electric and magnetic force send waves that propagate through space.After a series of articles “On Physical Lines,” Maxwell already had, in fact, all the material for constructing a new theory of electromagnetism. Now for the theory of the electromagnetic field. The gears and vortices completely disappeared. For Maxwell, the field equations were no less real and tangible than the results of laboratory experiments. Now both Faraday's electromagnetic induction and Maxwell's displacement current were derived not using mechanical models, but using mathematical operations.
According to Faraday, a change in the magnetic field leads to the appearance of an electric field. A surge in the magnetic field causes a surge in the electric field.
A burst of an electric wave gives rise to a burst of a magnetic wave. Thus, for the first time, from the pen of a thirty-three-year-old prophet, electromagnetic waves appeared in 1864, but not yet in the form in which we understand them now. Maxwell spoke only about magnetic waves in an 1864 paper. An electromagnetic wave in the full sense of the word, including both electric and magnetic disturbances, appeared later in Maxwell's paper in 1868.
In another article by Maxwell, “The Dynamic Theory of the Electromagnetic Field,” the previously outlined electromagnetic theory of light acquired clear outlines and evidence. Based on his own research and the experience of other scientists (most notably Faraday), Maxwell concludes that optical properties a medium is related to its electromagnetic properties, and light is nothing more than electromagnetic waves.
In 1865, Maxwell decides to leave King's College. He settles in his family estate of Glenmeir, where he studies the main works of his life - “The Theory of Heat” and “Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism.” I devote all my time to them. These were the years of hermitage, years of complete detachment from vanity, serving only science, the most fruitful, bright, creative years. However, Maxwell is again drawn to work at the university, and he accepts the offer made to him by the University of Cambridge.
Cambridge 1871-1879
Cavendish Laboratory
In 1870, the Duke of Devonshire announced to the University Senate his desire to build and equip a physics laboratory. And it was to be headed by a world-famous scientist. This scientist was James Clerk Maxwell. In 1871, he began work on equipping the famous Cavendish Laboratory. During these years, his “Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism” was finally published. More than a thousand pages, where Maxwell gives a description of scientific experiments, an overview of all the theories of electricity and magnetism created so far, as well as the “Basic Equations of the Electromagnetic Field.” In general, in England they did not accept the main ideas of the Treatise; even their friends did not understand it. Maxwell's ideas were picked up by young people. Maxwell's theory made a great impression on Russian scientists. Everyone knows the role of Umov, Stoletov, Lebedev in the development and strengthening of Maxwell's theory.June 16, 1874 is the day of the grand opening of the Cavendish Laboratory. The following years were marked by growing recognition.
World recognition
In 1870, Maxwell was elected an honorary doctor of letters from the University of Edinburgh, in 1874 - a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Boston, in 1875 - a member of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, and also became an honorary member of the academies of New York, Amsterdam, Vienna . For the next five years, Maxwell spent the next five years editing and preparing for publication twenty sets of Henry Cavendish's manuscripts.In 1877, Maxwell felt the first signs of illness, and in May 1879 he gave his last lecture to his students.
Dimension
In his famous treatise on electricity and magnetism (see Moscow, Nauka, 1989), Maxwell addressed the problem of the dimension of physical quantities and laid the foundations of their kinetic system. The peculiarity of this system is the presence in it of only two parameters: length L and time T. All known (and unknown today!) quantities are represented in it as integer powers of L and T. Fractional indicators appearing in the formulas of dimensions of other systems, devoid of physical content and there is no logical meaning in this system.In accordance with the requirements of J. Maxwell, A. Poincaré, N. Bohr, A. Einstein, V. I. Vernadsky, R. Bartini a physical quantity is universal if and only if its connection with space and time is clearme. And, nevertheless, until J. Maxwell’s treatise “On Electricity and Magnetism” (1873), the connection between the dimension of mass and length and time was not established.
Since the dimension for mass was introduced by Maxwell (along with the notation in the form of square brackets), we allow ourselves to quote an excerpt from the work of Maxwell himself: “Any expression for any quantity consists of two factors or components. One of these is the name of some known quantity of the same type as the quantity we are expressing. She is taken as reference standard. The other component is a number indicating how many times the standard must be applied to obtain the required value. The reference standard quantity is called e unit, and the corresponding number is h and verbal meaning of this value."
“ABOUT MEASUREMENT OF VALUES”
1. Any expression for any quantity consists of two factors or components. One of these is the name of some known quantity of the same type as the quantity we are expressing. She is taken as reference standard. The other component is a number indicating how many times the standard must be applied to obtain the required value. The reference standard value is called in technology Unit, and the corresponding number is Numeric Meaning of this value.
2. When constructing a mathematical system, we consider the basic units - length, time and mass - as given, and we derive all derivative units from them using the simplest acceptable definitions.
Therefore, in all scientific research It is very important to use units belonging to a properly defined system, as well as to know their relationships with the basic units in order to be able to immediately convert the results of one system to another.
Knowing the dimensions of units provides us with a method of verification that should be applied to equations obtained as a result of long-term research.
The dimension of each of the terms of the equation relative to each of the three basic units must be the same. If this is not so, then the equation is meaningless, it contains some kind of error, since its interpretation turns out to be different and depends on the arbitrary system of units that we accept.
Three basic units:
(1) LENGTH. The standard of length used in our country in scientific purposes, serves as a foot, which is the third part of a standard yard kept in the Treasury.
In France and other countries that have adopted the metric system, the standard of length is the meter. Theoretically, this is one ten-millionth of the length of the earth's meridian, measured from the pole to the equator; in practice, this is the length of the standard stored in Paris, made by Borda in such a way that at the melting temperature of the ice it corresponds to the value of the meridian length obtained by d'Alembert. Measurements reflecting new and more accurate measurements of the Earth are not entered into the meter; on the contrary, the meridian arc itself is calculated in the original meters.
In astronomy, the unit of length is sometimes taken to be the average distance from the Earth to the Sun.
At current state science, the most universal standard of length that could be proposed would be the wavelength of light of a certain type emitted by some widespread substance (for example, sodium), which has clearly identifiable lines in its spectrum. Such a standard would be independent of any change in the size of the earth, and should be adopted by those who hope that their writings will prove more durable than this celestial body.
When working with unit dimensions, we will denote the unit of length as [ L]. If the numerical value of the length is l, then this is understood as a value expressed through a certain unit [ L], so that the entire true length is represented as l [ L].
(2) TIME. In all civilized countries, the standard unit of time is derived from the period of revolution of the Earth around its axis. The sidereal day, or true period of revolution of the Earth, can be established with great accuracy by ordinary astronomical observations, and the average solar day can be calculated from the sidereal day thanks to our knowledge of the length of the year.
The second of mean solar time is adopted as the unit of time in all physical studies.
In astronomy, the unit of time is sometimes taken to be a year. A more universal unit of time could be established by taking the oscillation period of that very light whose wavelength is equal to a unit length.
We will refer to a specific unit of time as [ T], and the numerical measure of time is denoted by t.
(3) MASS. In our country, the standard unit of mass is the reference commercial pound (avoirdupois pound), kept in the Treasury. Often used as a unit, a grain is one 7000th of a pound.
In the metric system, the unit of mass is the gram; theoretically this is the mass of a cubic centimeter of distilled water at standard values of temperature and pressure, and in practice it is one thousandth of the standard kilogram stored in Paris *.
But if, as is done in the French system, a certain substance, namely water, is taken as a standard of density, then the unit of mass ceases to be independent, but changes like a unit of volume, i.e. How [ L 3]. If, as in the astronomical system, the unit of mass is expressed through the force of its attraction, then the dimension [ M] turns out to be [ L 3 T-2]".
Maxwell shows that mass can be excluded from the number of basic dimensional quantities. This is achieved through two definitions of the concept “power”:
1) 
and 2) .
Equating these two expressions and considering the gravitational constant to be a dimensionless quantity, Maxwell obtains:
, [M] = [L 3 T 2 ].
Mass turned out to be a space-time quantity. Its dimensions: volume with angular acceleration(or density having the same dimension).
The amount of mass began to satisfy the requirement of universality. It became possible to express all other physical quantities in space-time units of measurement.
In 1965, the article “Kinematic system of physical quantities” by R. Bartini was published in the journal “Reports of the USSR Academy of Sciences” (No. 4). These results have exceptional value for the problem under discussion.
Law of Conservation of Power
Lagrange, 1789; Maxwell, 1855.IN general view The law of conservation of power is written as the invariance of power magnitude:
From the total power equationN = P + G it follows that useful power and loss power are projectively inverse, and therefore any change in free energy compensated by changes in power losses under full power control .
The obtained conclusion gives grounds to present the law of conservation of power in the form of a scalar equation:
Where .
The change in the active flow is compensated by the difference between losses and gains into the system.
Thus, the mechanism open system removes the restrictions of closure, and thereby provides the opportunity for further movement of the system. However, this mechanism does not show possible directions of movement - the evolution of systems. Therefore, it must be supplemented by the mechanisms of evolving and non-evolving systems or nonequilibrium and equilibrium.
Bibliography
Vl. Kartsev “The Life of Remarkable People. Maxwell." - M., “Young Guard”, 1974.
James Clerk Maxwell. Articles and speeches. M., “Science”, 1968.
http://physicsbooks.narod.ru/
http://revolution.allbest.ru/
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/
http://www.situation.ru/
http://www.uni-dubna.ru/
http://www.uran.ru/
MAXWELL, James Clerk
English physicist James Clerk Maxwell was born in Edinburgh into the family of a Scottish nobleman from the noble Clerk family. He studied first at Edinburgh (1847–1850), then at Cambridge (1850–1854) universities. In 1855, Maxwell became a member of the council of Trinity College, in 1856–1860. was a professor at Marischal College, University of Aberdeen, and from 1860 headed the department of physics and astronomy at King's College, University of London. In 1865, due to a serious illness, Maxwell resigned from the department and settled on his family estate of Glenlare near Edinburgh. There he continued to study science and wrote several essays on physics and mathematics. In 1871 he took the chair of experimental physics at the University of Cambridge. Maxwell organized a research laboratory, which opened on June 16, 1874 and was named Cavendish in honor of Henry Cavendish.
Maxwell completed his first scientific work while still at school, inventing a simple way to draw oval shapes. This work was reported at a meeting of the Royal Society and even published in its Proceedings. While a member of the Council of Trinity College, he was engaged in experiments on color theory, acting as a continuator of Jung's theory and Helmholtz's theory of three primary colors. In experiments on color mixing, Maxwell used a special top, the disk of which was divided into sectors painted in different colors (Maxwell disk). When the top rotated quickly, the colors merged: if the disk was painted in the same way as the colors of the spectrum, it appeared white; if one half of it was painted red and the other half yellow, it appeared orange; mixing blue and yellow created the impression of green. In 1860, Maxwell was awarded the Rumford Medal for his work on color perception and optics.
In 1857, the University of Cambridge announced a competition for the best paper on the stability of Saturn's rings. These formations were discovered by Galileo at the beginning of the 17th century. and presented an amazing mystery of nature: the planet seemed surrounded by three continuous concentric rings, consisting of a substance of an unknown nature. Laplace proved that they cannot be solid. After conducting a mathematical analysis, Maxwell became convinced that they could not be liquid, and came to the conclusion that such a structure could only be stable if it consisted of a swarm of unrelated meteorites. The stability of the rings is ensured by their attraction to Saturn and the mutual movement of the planet and meteorites. For this work, Maxwell received the J. Adams Prize.
One of Maxwell's first works was his kinetic theory of gases. In 1859, the scientist gave a report at a meeting of the British Association in which he presented the distribution of molecules by speed (Maxwellian distribution). Maxwell developed the ideas of his predecessor in the development of the kinetic theory of gases by Rudolf Clausius, who introduced the concept of "mean free path". Maxwell proceeded from the idea of a gas as an ensemble of many ideally elastic balls moving chaotically in a closed space. Balls (molecules) can be divided into groups according to speed, while in a stationary state the number of molecules in each group remains constant, although they can leave and enter groups. From this consideration it followed that “particles are distributed by speed according to the same law as observational errors are distributed in the theory of the least squares method, i.e. according to Gaussian statistics." As part of his theory, Maxwell explained Avogadro's law, diffusion, thermal conductivity, internal friction (transfer theory). In 1867 he showed the statistical nature of the second law of thermodynamics.
In 1831, the year Maxwell was born, Michael Faraday carried out the classic experiments that led him to the discovery of electromagnetic induction. Maxwell began to study electricity and magnetism about 20 years later, when there were two views on the nature of electric and magnetic effects. Scientists such as A. M. Ampere and F. Neumann adhered to the concept of long-range action, viewing electromagnetic forces as analogous to the gravitational attraction between two masses. Faraday was an advocate of the idea of lines of force that connect positive and negative electrical charges or the north and south poles of a magnet. Lines of force fill the entire surrounding space (field, in Faraday's terminology) and determine electrical and magnetic interactions. Following Faraday, Maxwell developed a hydrodynamic model of lines of force and expressed the then known relations of electrodynamics in a mathematical language corresponding to Faraday's mechanical models. The main results of this research are reflected in the work “Faraday's Lines of Force” (1857). In 1860–1865 Maxwell created the theory of the electromagnetic field, which he formulated in the form of a system of equations (Maxwell's equations) describing the basic laws of electromagnetic phenomena: the 1st equation expressed Faraday's electromagnetic induction; 2nd – magnetoelectric induction, discovered by Maxwell and based on ideas about displacement currents; 3rd – the law of conservation of electricity; 4th – vortex nature of the magnetic field.
Continuing to develop these ideas, Maxwell came to the conclusion that any changes in the electric and magnetic fields should cause changes in the lines of force that penetrate the surrounding space, i.e. there must be pulses (or waves) propagating in the medium. The speed of propagation of these waves (electromagnetic disturbance) depends on the dielectric and magnetic permeability of the medium and is equal to the ratio of the electromagnetic unit to the electrostatic one. According to Maxwell and other researchers, this ratio is 3·10 10 cm/s, which is close to the speed of light measured seven years earlier by the French physicist A. Fizeau. In October 1861, Maxwell informed Faraday about his discovery: light is an electromagnetic disturbance propagating in a non-conducting medium, i.e. a type of electromagnetic wave. This final stage of research is outlined in Maxwell’s work “The Dynamic Theory of the Electromagnetic Field” (1864), and the result of his work on electrodynamics was summed up in the famous “Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism” (1873).
On November 5, 1879, the British physicist, mathematician and mechanic James Clerk Maxwell died. He was 48 years old. During his life he became the author of many discoveries. We remembered the most interesting of them.
1. Method of drawing an oval. Maxwell made this discovery while still a schoolboy. He studied at Edinburgh Academy. At first, James had little interest in studying, but later he began to show interest in it. The boy was most interested in geometry. His appreciation of the beauty of geometric imagery increased after a lecture by artist David Ramsay Hay on Etruscan art. Reflections on this topic led Maxwell to invent a method for drawing ovals. The method dates back to the works of Rene Descartes and consisted of the use of focal pins, threads and a pencil, which made it possible to construct circles (one focus), ellipses (two focuses) and more complex oval figures ( large quantity focuses). It must be said that the results of the student’s work did not go unnoticed and were reported by Professor James Forbes at a meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and then published in his Proceedings.
2. Color theory. After studying at Cambridge, Maxwell prepared for a professorship. At this time the main scientific interest a young man begins to work on color theory. It originates from the work of Isaac Newton, who adhered to the idea of seven primary colors. Maxwell was a continuator of the theory of Thomas Young, who put forward the idea of three primary colors and associated them with physiological processes in the human body. James used a previously invented “color spinning top,” the disk of which was divided into sectors painted in different colors, as well as a “color box,” an optical system he himself developed that made it possible to mix reference colors. However, for the first time he was able to obtain quantitative results with their help and quite accurately predict the resulting color mixtures. For example, if it was previously believed that white could be obtained by mixing blue, red and yellow, Maxwell refuted this. His experiments showed that mixing blue and yellow colors does not produce green, as was often believed, but a pinkish tint. He also found out that the primary colors are red, green and blue.
3. Stability of Saturn's rings. In Aberdeen, Maxwell married and began teaching, but science still took up a significant part of his time. Maxwell's greater attention at this time was attracted to the study of the nature of Saturn's rings, proposed in 1855 by the University of Cambridge for the Adams Prize (the work was required to be completed in two years). The rings were discovered by Galileo Galilei at the beginning of the 17th century and have long been a mystery of nature. Many scientists tried to determine the nature of the substance from which the rings of Saturn were made. William Herschel considered them to be solid objects. Pierre Simon Laplace argued that solid rings must be heterogeneous, very narrow and must necessarily rotate. Maxwell conducted research - a mathematical analysis of various variants of the structure of the rings - and became convinced that they could not be either solid or liquid. The scientist’s conclusion was this: such a structure can be stable only if it consists of a swarm of unrelated meteorites. The stability of the rings is ensured by their attraction to Saturn and the mutual movement of the planet and meteorites. Using Fourier analysis, Maxwell studied the propagation of waves in such a ring and showed that under certain conditions meteorites do not collide with each other. For the case of two rings, he determined at what ratios of their radii a state of instability occurs. Having received the Adams Prize for his work and receiving rave reviews from his colleagues, Maxwell continued his experiments. His work has received recognition in scientific circles. Astronomer Royal George Airy declared it the most brilliant application of mathematics to physics he had ever seen.
4. First color photograph. This discovery was made in London. First, in 1860, Maxwell gave a talk at the British Association meeting in Oxford on his results in color theory, supported by experimental demonstrations using a color box. A year later, during a lecture at the Royal Institution, James presented to his colleagues the world's first color photograph, the idea of which originated with him back in 1855. It was produced together with photographer Thomas Sutton. First, three negatives of color tape were produced on glass coated with a photographic emulsion (collodion). The negatives were taken through green, red and blue filters (solutions of salts of various metals). The negatives were then illuminated through the same filters, after which a color image was obtained. By the way, Maxwell’s experiment was recreated almost a hundred years ago by employees of the Kodak company. The scientist's principle was used for many years.
Interesting facts from the life of the British physicist, mathematician and mechanic are presented in this article.
James Maxwell interesting facts
When Maxwell was 8 years old, his mother died. The boy's father raised him
Maxwell was very poor at arithmetic at school.
He loved to sing Scottish songs to his own accompaniment on the guitar.
At the age of 8, he quoted verses from the Book of Psalms from memory.
His main works are devoted to electricity and magnetism.
He is considered the author of the theory of color mixing. It was previously believed that white color was obtained by mixing red, blue and yellow, but James disproved this theory. Maxwell's experiments showed that mixing yellow and blue colors does not produce green, as was then believed, but a pink tint. He proved that the basic colors are green, red and blue.
Maxwell took the first color photograph in 1860.
While studying at Cambridge University, he was informed that attending religious services was a mandatory part of his studies. To which James replied, “I’m just going to bed at this time.”
The only component of the relief of the planet Venus is named in his honor - the Maxwell Mountain Range.
James Maxwell received the position of professor of physics in 1860 and together with his wife, whom he married in 1858, he moved to London.
He was fluent in English, Greek, Latin, German, Italian and French.
The scientist was modest and shy person, preferring solitude. Divorce from his wife exacerbated his unsociability, and Maxwell became distant from his friends.
James Maxwell died at the age of 48 from cancer.
In 1929, much important material about the life of James Maxwell was destroyed in a fire at his Glenlare home, 50 years after the scientist's death.
We hope that from this article you learned Interesting Facts about James Maxwell.
