Family, Life and Scientific achievements of James Clerk Maxwell

1. Family, Life and Scientificachievements of James Clerk Maxwell by the Trustees James Clerk Maxwell Foundation

2. Who is Maxwell? He is the most significant physicist of the era between Newton and Einstein!

3. Deliver this presentation in 4 distinct sections • Born into historical family comprising… “generations of genius” • Maxwell’s life and times • Considerable Scientific contributions • Legacy today

4. James Clerk Maxwell’s relatives who were Fellows ofRoyal Society of Edinburgh or Royal Society of London or both Sir John Clerk FRS great-great-grandfather Sir George Clerk Maxwell FRSE great-grandfather Clerk of Eldin FRSE great-great-uncle Sir John Clerk FRSE great-uncle John Clerk (Eldin) FRSE first cousin twice removed James Wedderburn FRSE uncle by marriage

5. James Clerk Maxwell’s relatives who were Fellows ofRoyal Society of Edinburgh or Royal Society of London Sir George Clerk FRS FRSE uncle John Cay FRSE uncle John Clerk Maxwell FRSE father Henry Clerk FRS first cousin William Dyce Cay FRSE first cousin Sir John Clerk FRSE descendant of Sir George Clerk

6. James Clerk Maxwell grandfather Sir George Clerk FRS, FRSE uncle Isabella Clerk aunt m. James Wedderburn FRSE uncle John Clerk Maxwell FRSE father m. Frances Cay Henry Clerk FRS first cousin James Clerk Maxwell FRS, FRSE

7. Sir John Clerk FRS great-great-grandfather Sir George Clerk Maxwell FRSE great-grandfather Clerk of Eldin FRSE great-great-uncle Sir John Clerk FRSE great-uncle James Clerk Maxwell grandfather John Clerk FRSE Lord Eldin first cousin twice removed

8. Robert Hodgson Cay grandfather John Cay FRSE uncle Frances Cay mother m. John Clerk Maxwell FRSE Robert Dundas Cay uncle James Clerk Maxwell FRS, FRSE William Dyce Cay FRSE first cousin

9. Sir John Clerk FRSgreat-great-grandfather

10. Sir John Clerk FRSgreat-great-grandfatherscientific interests e.g. “Solar Eclipse”

11. Sir George Clerk Maxwell FRSEgreat-grandfather • Commisioner of Customs and Excise • Well acquinted with Natural History, Mineralogy and Geography • Skilled as engineer and draughtsman • Married cousin Dorothea • Maxwell introduced into name

12. Clerk of Eldin FRSEgreat-great-uncle

13. Clerk of Eldin FRSEnaval tactician

14. Clerk of Eldin FRSENaval Tactician

15. Clerk of Eldin FRSE Drawings for Hutton’s ‘Theory of the Earth’

16. John Clerk Maxwell FRSEfather Courtesy Scottish National Portrait Gallery

17. Drawing by cousin Jemima WedderburnJohn Clerk Maxwell and James with onlooker

18. Robert Hodgson Caygrandfather

19. John Cay FRSEuncle

20. Robert Hodgson Cay grandfather John Cay FRSE uncle Frances Cay mother m. John Clerk Maxwell FRSE Robert Dundas Cay uncle James Clerk Maxwell FRS, FRSE William Dyce Cay FRSE first cousin

21. Maxwell • Born into family “generations of genius” • Life and Times

22. Maxwell’s birthplace, 14 India Street, Edinburgh Maxwell born 13 June 1831

24. Maxwell with his mother,Frances Cay Courtesy Birmingham Museum and Art gallery

25. Family Estate at Glenlair, date unknown

26. Glenlair in 2012 before start of most recent restoration.

27. Glenlair today

28. Favourite toy The “devil on two sticks” or diablo, was a favourite toy of Maxwell's

29. Jemima Wedderburn 1823-1909 Jemima Wedderburn Blackburn was a Scottish watercolouristwhose work gives us an evocative picture of rural life in 19th-century Scotland. She illustrated 27 books. First cousin to James Clerk Maxwell. She married the mathematician Professor Hugh Blackburn and they bought the Roshven estate in 1854.

30. Jemima Wedderburn Courtesy Sir John Clerk of Penicuik

32. Zoetrope childs toy

33. Maxwell’s Improved Zoetrope Note addition of concave lenses Courtesy Cavendish Laboratory Cambridge

34. Wheel of Life, made by James Clerk Maxwell, drawn by cousin Jemima

35. Inquisitive childhood! His mother described this with: He has great work with doors, locks, keys, etc., and "show me how it doos" is never out of his mouth. He also investigates the hidden course of streams and bell-wires, the way the water gets from the pond through the wall....

36. Back to Edinburgh for school

37. Dress for entry to school This country dress led to him being called “daftie” Courtesy Cavendish Laboratory Cambridge

38. James Clerk Maxwell Courtesy Mr Giles and Miss Barbara Wallis

39. James Clerk Maxwell as undergraduate Holding colour wheel Courtesy Trinity College Cambridge

40. Family picnic at Roshven, 1851

41. James with wife Katherine Courtesy Cavendish Laboratory Cambridge

42. Maxwell in later life Courtesy Cavendish Laboratory Cambridge

43. James Clerk Maxwell

44. James Clerk Maxwell FRS FRSE

45. Maxwell • Born into family “generations of genius” • Life and Times • Many Scientific contributions

46. Significant contributions in many fields

47. Papers by James Clerk Maxwell to the Royal Society of Edinburgh (with Maxwell’s age) 1846: On the descriptions of Oval Curves and those having a Plurality of Foci (14) 1849: On the Theory of Rolling Curves (17) 1853: On the Equilibrium of Elastic Solids (18) 1855: Experiments on Colour as perceived by the Eye, with remarks on Colour-blindness (24) 1857: On a Dynamical Top (26) 1862: On Theories of the Constitution of Saturn’s Rings (31)

48. Papers by Maxwell to the Royal Society of Edinburgh - 2 1868: On the best Arrangement for producing a Pure Spectrum on a Screen 1872: On the Bow seen on the Surface of Ice 1872: On reciprocal Figures, Frames and Diagrams of Forces 1872: On the Geometrical Mean Distance of Two Figures on a Plane 1872: Addition to a memoir of Francis Deas: 'On spectra formed by the passage of polarised light through double refracting crystals’ 1878: Note on George Forbes paper, 'On diamagnetic rotation'

49. Oval curves manuscript, 1846

50. Conventional ellipse construction