James Maxwell is the physicist who first formulated the foundations of classical electrodynamics. They are still used. The well-known Maxwell's equation is known, it was he who introduced into this science such concepts as bias current, electromagnetic field, predicted electromagnetic waves, the nature and pressure of light, made many other important discoveries.
Childhood physics
Physicist Maxwell was born in the 19th century, in 1831. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. The hero of our article came from the Klerkov family, his father owned a family estate in Southern Scotland. In 1826, he found a wife named Francis Kay, they married, and after 5 years, James was born.
In infancy, Maxwell moved with his parents to the Middleby estate, where he spent his childhood, which was greatly overshadowed by the death of his mother from cancer. Even in the first years of his life, he was actively interested in the world around him, was fond of poetry, he was surrounded by the so-called "scientific toys." For example, the cinema's predecessor is the magic disk.
At the age of 10, he began to study with a home teacher, but this turned out to be ineffective, then in 1841 he moved to Edinburgh with his aunt. Here he began to attend the Edinburgh Academy, in which the emphasis was on classical education.
Studying at Edinburgh University
In 1847, the future physicist James Maxwell began to study at the University of Edinburgh. Here he studied works on physics, magnetism and philosophy, and set up numerous laboratory experiments. Most of all he was interested in the mechanical properties of materials. He studied them using polarized light. The physicist Maxwell got this opportunity after his colleague William Nicole presented him with two personally assembled polarizing devices.
At that time, he made a large number of models from gelatin, subjected them to deformations, and followed color paintings in polarized light. Comparing his experiments with theoretical studies, Maxwell deduced many new laws and checked the old ones. At that time, the results of this work were extremely important for structural mechanics.
Maxwell at Cambridge
In 1850, Maxwell wants to continue his education, although his father is not enthusiastic about this venture. The scientist goes to Cambridge. There he enters an inexpensive college, Peterhouse. The curriculum available there did not satisfy James; moreover, studying at Peterhouse did not give any prospects.
Only at the end of the first semester did he manage to convince his father and transfer to the more prestigious Trinity College. Two years later, he becomes a scholarship holder, receives a separate room.
At the same time, Maxwell practically does not engage in scientific activity, reads and attends lectures of prominent scientists of his time, writes poetry, participates in the intellectual life of the university. The hero of our article communicates a lot with new people, thereby compensating for natural shyness.
Interesting was Maxwell's daily routine. From 7 am to 5 pm he worked, then fell asleep. He got up again at 9.30 p.m., read, and from two to one-thirty in the night he did jogging right in the hallways of the hostel. After that he lay down again to oversleep until the morning.
Electricity Works
During his stay in Cambridge, physicist Maxwell is seriously interested in the problems of electricity. He explores magnetism, the nature of magnetic and electrical effects.
By that time, Michael Faraday put forward the theory of electromagnetic induction, lines of force capable of connecting negative and positive electric charges. However, Maxwell did not like this concept of action at a distance, his intuition told him that there were contradictions somewhere. Therefore, he decided to build a mathematical theory that combines the results obtained by proponents of long-range action, and Faraday’s idea. He used the analogy method and applied the results previously achieved by William Thomson in analyzing heat transfer processes in solids. So for the first time he gave a reasoned mathematical justification for how the transmission of electrical action in a certain environment proceeds.
Color shots
In 1856, Maxwell went to Aberdeen, where he would soon marry. In June 1860, at the congress of the British Association, which takes place in Oxford, the hero of our article makes an important report on his research in the field of color theory, reinforcing them with concrete experiments using a color box. In the same year he was awarded a medal for his work on combining optics and colors.
In 1861, he provides at the Royal Institute irrefutable evidence of the fidelity of his theory - this is a color photograph that he worked on since 1855. Nobody has done such a thing in the world. He removed negatives through several filters - blue, green and red. Lighting negatives through the same filters, he manages to get a color image.
Maxwell's equation
A strong influence in the biography of James Clerk Maxwell on him had the physicists Faraday and Thomson. As a result, he comes to the conclusion that magnetism has a vortex nature, and electric current is translational. He creates a mechanical model to demonstrate everything.
As a result, the bias current led to the famous continuity equation, which is still used for electric charge. According to contemporaries, this discovery was Maxwell's most significant contribution to modern physics.
last years of life
Maxwell spent the last years of his life in Cambridge in various administrative positions, becoming the president of the philosophical society. Together with his students, he studied the propagation of waves in crystals.
The employees who worked with him repeatedly noted that he was as simple as possible in communication, completely devoted himself to research, had a unique ability to penetrate into the essence of the problem itself, was very insightful, while reacting adequately to criticism, never aspired to become famous, but in at the same time was capable of highly refined sarcasm.
The first symptoms of a serious illness appeared in 1877, when Maxwell was only 46 years old. He began to choke more and more, it was difficult for him to eat and swallow food, severe pain arose.
Two years later, it was very difficult for him to give lectures, to speak in public, he very quickly got tired. Doctors noted that his condition was constantly getting worse. The doctors’ diagnosis was disappointing - abdominal cancer. At the end of the year, finally weakening, he returned from Glenlar to Cambridge. Dr. James Paget, known at that time, tried to alleviate his suffering.
In November 1879, Maxwell died. The coffin with his body was transferred from Cambridge to a family estate, buried next to his parents in a small village cemetery in Parton.
Maxwell Olympics
The memory of Maxwell is preserved in the names of streets, buildings, astronomical objects, awards and charitable foundations. Also annually in Moscow the Maxwell Physics Olympiad takes place.
It runs for students from grades 7 to 11 inclusive. For students in grades 7-8, the results of the Maxwell Olympiad in physics are a substitute for the regional and All-Russian stage of the physics olympiad.
To participate in the regional stage, you need to get a sufficient number of points in the preliminary selection. The regional and final stages of the Maxwell Olympiad in Physics are held in two stages. One of them is theoretical, and the second is experimental.
It is interesting that the tasks of the Maxwell Olympiad in physics at all stages coincide in level of difficulty with the tests of the final stages of the All-Russian Olympiad for schoolchildren.