Science
James Clerk Maxwell
Mathematical physicist of electromagnetism
Also known as J. Clerk Maxwell · James C. Maxwell
Photograph · Image credit
Who they are
James Clerk Maxwell developed a mathematical field theory connecting electricity, magnetism and light. His 1865 paper built on earlier work, including Faraday’s, and compared the predicted speed of electromagnetic propagation with light. This framework later supplied part of the physical problem addressed by Einstein’s special relativity.
His work links the timeline’s field-theory and relativity developments.
Selected contributions
Selected works
Academic paper · 1865
A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field
Maxwell develops a field account connecting electrical and magnetic phenomena. His comparison between electromagnetic propagation and the measured speed of light supports the argument that light is electromagnetic.
Original complete paper published in 1865; these links provide separate transcriptions of Parts I and VI.
Preview · Part I excerpt ↗Preview · Part VI excerpt ↗
Reading scope & citation
Reuses the input’s documented prior inspection: Specified original-paper sections inspected in transcription, with the parent-page received/read dates checked separately. No fresh full-work reread in this directory pass. Reused prior inspected evidence: Relevant theoretical passages inspected; numerical calculations were not independently replicated.
In the timeline
Biography sources & portrait credit
- A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field, Part I ↗Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society; transcription at Wikisource
- A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field, Part VI ↗Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society; transcription at Wikisource
- On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies ↗Annalen der Physik; English reproduction hosted by University of Pittsburgh
Portrait credit
Unknown photographer. Public domain (Commons file-specific copyright declaration). Via Wikimedia Commons.
Photograph. Cropped to 4:5, resized to 320 × 400 and converted to WebP.
Image source & identification ↗ · Public domain (Commons file-specific copyright declaration) ↗
