James Clerk Maxwell

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.07: English Writing and Culture of the Victorian Period, 1837-1901.
Vol. editors: Gillian Fenwick (University of Toronto), Grace Moore (University of Otago)

Dates

Born 13 Jun 1831
Died 5 Nov 1879
Activity 1835-1879

Places

Born in Scotland
Active in England; Scotland

Activities

Primary

Chemist
Physicist

Resources

Preliminary Entry

James Clerk Maxwell was born in Edinburgh in 1831 into prosperous middle class family. He was a precocious intellectual and was sent to school at the Edinburgh Academy where, at the age of 14, he published his first scientific paper on the geometry of the ellipse. He entered the University of Edinburgh at the age of 16, moving in 1850 to the University of Cambridge. Whilst his genius as a physicist was recognised by all, it was also noted that his brilliant realisations were often achieved via mathematical arguments which did not withstand critical inspection. Maxwell's early achievements were diverse, ranging from theories about the constitution of Saturn's rings which have only recently been confirmed, …

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303 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "James Clerk Maxwell". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 January 2005 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5880, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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