James Clerk Maxwell: the scientist who inspired Einstein

Publié le Mis à jour le

When Einstein was asked if he stood on the shoulders of Newton, he replied “No, on the shoulders of Maxwell”; he gave Maxwell’s photo pride of place on his study wall (100 years on, is this Einstein’s greatest gift to humanity?, 7 December)


100 years on, is this Einstein’s greatest gift to human understanding?

‘In a series of four lectures delivered at the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin in November and December 1915, Einstein presented a new theory of gravitation.’ Illustration: Jasper Rietman

The detection of gravitational waves will open up a new spectrum of the universe – finally demonstrating a theory presented a century ago.

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James Clerk Maxwell Biography: History of Maxwell’s Equations

What are Maxwell’s equations, why are they important and why were they created in the first place? Meet a charming Scotsman, his scientist wife and their important interactions with a young Lord Kelvin and an aging Michael Faraday.

 

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