Daily Image
09-11-2006
175 years of James Clerk Maxwell
| Submitter: | Michael Garrett |
| Description: | The year 2006 marks the 175th anniversary of the birth of James Clerk Maxwell. Maxwell is generally regarded as the father of modern physics. In particular, he showed that electric and magnetic forces are two complementary aspects of electro-magnetism, demonstrating that electric and magnetic fields travel through space, in the form of waves, at a constant velocity of 3.0 X 10^8 m/s. As a result Maxwell proposed that light itself was just one form of electromagnetic radiation. His theory of electro-magnetism is embedded within his now famous set of four (differential) equations - known as "Maxwell's equations" - these still form the basis of much of the work conducted here in Dwingeloo today and opened the way to the invention of radio, radar, television and mobile communications. Maxwell also pioneered the application of statistical techniques to physics, in particular the kinetic theory of gases. This work, together with Maxwell's field equations ushered in the era of modern physics and led to the development of quantum mechanics and general relativity. In his spare time, he created the first colour photograph (identifying in the process the primary colours as red, green and blue) and also correctly predicted (from dynamical stability arguements) that the rings of Saturn must be composed of numerous small solid particles (only confirmed more than 100 years later by the Voyager spacecraft). As a toddler growing up in Edinburgh, Scotland, Maxwell is often quoted as continually pestering his parents with the question "What's the go o' that" - or in translation - "How does this work ?" Maxwell died in Cambridge (having established the Cavendish Laboratory) aged only 48 on the 5 November 1879 - the same year Einstein was born. The JCMT sub-mm telescope in Hawaii is named in his honour. |
| Copyright: | JIVE |
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