Clerk-Maxwell, James (1831-79)

Clerk-Maxwell's greatest work was his initial contribution to electromagnetic radiation.

As a boy of fifteen he devised a method of drawing certain oval curves, a method which was written up by the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He attended Cambridge and graduated there as second wrangler. He went into teaching physics; first at Aberdeen then at London. In 1871, Clerk-Maxwell returned to Cambridge, there to become the first professor of experimental Physics. In 1873, he published his great work, Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism.

See also: Maxwell Equations.