James Clerk Maxwell

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)
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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, to experiments on colour theory, presented to the Royal Society in

303 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "James Clerk Maxwell". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 January 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5880, accessed 19 March 2024.]

5880 James Clerk Maxwell 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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