James Clark Maxwell and his wife, Katherine Dewar. Portrait by Jemima Blackburn. Image sourced from Wikimedia

Top 10 Interesting Facts about James Clerk Maxwell


 

James Clerk Maxwell was a Scottish influential physicist and mathematician. One of his best works is ‘Maxwell Equations” made up of 4 sets of equations.

These equations explain how electric and magnetic fields circulate, interact, and how are influenced by objects.

Maxwell was born in 1831 to John Clerk Maxwell of Middlebie, an advocate, and Frances Cay. He was their second child, born after his eldest sister who died shortly after birth. Maxwell had a younger brother named Sir George Clerk.

Growing up, Maxwell was curious and had so many questions as to how and why things worked the way they did.

He took a keen interest in geometry and spent most of his time alone solving problems. At 14, unlike most of his peers, Maxwell published his first scientific paper.

His second milestone was when he was 18, he published two scientific papers. However, just like when he was 14, he was not allowed to present it because of his age.

At 25, 15 years younger than his colleagues at Marischal College in London, Maxwell was appointed as the professor of Natural Philosophy.

There is so much more to learn about this physicist. Here are the top 10 interesting facts about James Clerk Maxwell.

1. Maxwell was always a curious child

Maxwell’s parents met and married when they were well into their thirties. He was born when his mother was about to celebrate her 40th birthday.

His family moved to Glenlair, in Kirkcudbrightshire when he was a toddler. They now lived on a farm that his parents had built on the 1500 acres of estate.

Growing up in Glenlair, Maxwell was a curious little boy. He questioned anything that moved, made noise, or shone.

At that age, his parents described him as inquisitive and charming. Furthermore, he loved to play with doors, locks, and keys.  

When outdoors, Maxwell would explore streams and how water from the pond went through the walls.   

2. A family affair; Maxwell was tutored by his parents

A happy boy on a bench. Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Maxwell displayed his genius early on and impressed his parents. Seeing his potential, his mother became his teacher, a job highly regarded for women during the Victorian period.

When Maxwell turned 8, he could recite long passages and the entire chapter of Psalms 119.

Unfortunately, his mother was diagnosed with stomach cancer and had an unsuccessful operation. She died in 1839 when Maxwell was 8 years old.

3. A private tutor hired to teach him got fired

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash

After the death of his mother, his father and mother’s sister, Jane Cay, took over homeschooling Maxwell.

Later, they hired a 16-year-old tutor which turned out to be a bad idea. He accused Maxwell of being a slow learner, probably irked by his curious nature. This was unlike what his parents and aunt knew about Maxwell.

They, therefore, fired the tutor and sent Maxwell to a school in Edinburgh.

4. Maxwell was not as fashion-forward as his classmates at Edinburgh Academy

Having grown up alone for several years, Maxwell had poor social skills and fashion sense. Maybe this is asking too much from a 10-year-old who loved being alone and figuring out how things worked.

He lived with his aunt Isabella and it was where his love for drawing was born. His older cousin Jemima encouraged him to keep drawing.   

Life at school was not easy for Maxwell. First, he was made to join a class where he was the youngest.

His classmates described his Galloway accent as unsophisticated. They also made fun of the outfit he wore to school on his first day. Maxwell had worn a pair of homemade shoes and a tunic, this earned him the nickname Daftie.

Interestingly, he took the nickname lightly and was known by that name for several years.

He came out of his solitude shell after meeting Lewis Campbell and Peter Guthrie Tait. The three remained friends for a lifetime.    

5. To Maxwell, the school was more about learning and less about grades

James Clerk Maxwell Plaque. Photo by gnomonic – Wikimedia

Maxwell did not pay particular interest to the school syllabus or his grades.  Instead, he paid attention to what interested him and his curiosity.

At 14, James Maxwell wrote his first scientific paper.

The paper described a mechanical means of drawing mathematical curves with a piece of string. Furthermore, it described the properties of ellipses, Cartesian ovals, and related curves with more than two foci

Since he was considered too young to present the paper, a professor, James Forbes of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, presented it to the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

His paper was on a series of oval curves that could be traced with pins and threads, showing his love for all things geometric, that which has to do with shapes and forms.

6. Geometry was his favorite subject

Maxwell was fascinated by geometry at an early age, rediscovering the regular hexagons before getting his basic education.

His other passion was reciting long passages, especially from the bible. Maxwell won several prizes during his second year in school.

It was when he was 13 that his academic achievements got noticed. He won the school’s mathematical medal and first prize for both English and poetry.

Since he was fascinated by geometry, Maxwell thought of solving problems through a geometric model. Maxwell preferred shapes to solve mathematical formulas.

One of his professors called him extraordinary and a physics genius.

7. At 18, Maxwell was considered too young to present a scientific paper

James Clerk Maxwell as a young man. Pre-1923. Image sourced from Wikimedia Commons

When Maxwell turned 18, presented two papers for the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

One of the papers, “On the Equilibrium of Elastic Solids”, paved the way for an important discovery later in his life. This was the temporary double refraction produced in viscous liquids by shear stress. The other paper was “Rolling Curves”.

Unfortunately, Maxwell was not allowed to present the paper because of his age. His tutor, Kendall, presented the paper to the Royal Society on his behalf.

8. Maxwell was a strong believer in God

While studying at Trinity College, Maxwell was elected to the elite secret society known as the Cambridge Apostles.

He loved this role as his intellectual understanding of his Christian faith had grown during his Cambridge years.

Maxwell was part of the “Apostles”, an exclusive debating society of the intellectual elite. He used these sessions to work out his understanding of scripture.

Records show that Maxwell deeply examined his faith during his undergraduate years. He had an impressive knowledge of the Bible.

9. At 25 and the youngest in his faculty, Maxwell was made the head of a department

James Clerk Maxwell – Image sourced from Wikimedia Commons

Maxwell got a teaching job at Marischal College when he was 25-years-old. He was 15 years younger than any other professor at Marischal.

Moreover, Maxwell was made the head of a department where he designed the syllabus and prepared lecture notes.

As the Professor of Natural Philosophy, he spent 15 hours a week lecturing 1as well as a weekly pro bono lecture to the local working men’s college.

During his teaching years, he lived in Aberdeen with his cousin William Dyce Cay, a Scottish civil engineer. When school was off, he spent the summers at Glenlair, a property he inherited from his father.

10. Maxwell was married to Katherine who was seven years his senior

James Clark Maxwell and his wife, Katherine Dewar. Portrait by Jemima Blackburn. Image sourced from Wikimedia

In 1857 Maxwell developed a close friendship with Reverend Daniel Dewar, who was then the Principal of Marischal.

The reverend had a daughter, Katherine Mary Dewar. They liked each other and were engaged in February 1858 then married in Aberdeen on 2 June 1858.

His new bride was seven years older than Maxwell. Very little is known about Katherine other than that she helped him in his lab and worked on experiments in viscosity.

The couple was described as devoted to each other. There are no public records showing if the couple had children.


Maxwell died on November 5, 1879, of abdominal cancer, a disease that took his mother’s life. He was 48 years old. He is buried at Parton Kirk, near Castle Douglas in Galloway close to where he grew up.

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