Scientific discoveries of the 19th century. James Maxwell short biography

Many scientific publications and magazines in Lately publish articles about achievements in physics and modern scientists, and publications about physicists of the past are rare. We would like to correct this situation and remember one of the outstanding physicists of the last century, James Clerk Maxwell. This is a famous English physicist, the father of classical electrodynamics, statistical physics and many other theories, physical formulas and inventions. Maxwell became the creator and first director of the Cavendish Laboratory.

As you know, Maxwell came from Edinburgh and was born in 1831 into a noble family, which was related to the Scottish surname of Penicuik Clerks. Maxwell spent his childhood on the Glenlare estate. James's ancestors were politicians, poets, musicians and scientists. Probably, his penchant for science was inherited from him.

James was raised without a mother (since she died when he was 8 years old) by a father who cared for the boy. The father wanted his son to study natural sciences. James immediately fell in love with technology and quickly developed practical skills. Little Maxwell took his first lessons at home with perseverance, since he did not like the harsh methods of education used by the teacher. Further training took place in an aristocratic school, where the boy showed great mathematical abilities. Maxwell especially liked geometry.

To many great people, geometry seemed like an amazing science, and even at the age of 12 he spoke of a geometry textbook as if it were a holy book. Maxwell loved geometry as well as other scientific luminaries, but his relationships with his schoolmates were poor. They constantly came up with offensive nicknames for him and one of the reasons was his ridiculous clothes. Maxwell's father was considered an eccentric and bought his son clothes that made him smile.

Maxwell already served as a child big hopes in the field of science. In 1814 he was sent to study at Edinburgh Grammar School, and in 1846 he was awarded a medal for services to mathematics. His father was proud of his son and was given the opportunity to present one of his son's scientific works before the board of the Edinburgh Academy of Sciences. This work concerned mathematical calculations of elliptical figures. At that time this work had the title “On drawing ovals and ovals with many foci.” It was written in 1846 and published to the general public in 1851.

Maxwell began intensively studying physics after transferring to the University of Edinburgh. Calland, Forbes and others became his teachers. They immediately saw in James high intellectual potential and an uncontrollable desire to study physics. Before this period, Maxwell encountered certain branches of physics and studied optics (he devoted a lot of time to the polarization of light and Newton's rings). In this he was helped by the famous physicist William Nicol, who at one time invented the prism.

Of course, Maxwell was not alien to other natural sciences, and he paid special attention to the study of philosophy, the history of science and aesthetics.

In 1850 he entered Cambridge, where Newton once worked, and in 1854 received an academic degree. After this, his research concerned the field of electricity and electrical installations. And in 1855 he was granted membership in the council of Trinity College.

Maxwell's first significant scientific work was “On the Faraday power lines", which appeared in 1855. Boltzmann once said about Maxwell's paper that this work has a deep meaning and shows how purposefully the young scientist approaches scientific work. Boltzmann believed that Maxwell not only understood questions of natural science, but also made a special contribution to theoretical physics. Maxwell outlined in his article all the trends in the evolution of physics for the next few decades. Later, Kirchhoff, Mach and others came to the same conclusion.

How was the Cavendish Laboratory formed?

After completing his studies at Cambridge, James Maxwell remained here as a teacher and in 1860 he became a member of the Royal Society of London. At the same time, he moved to London, where he was given a position as head of the physics department at King's College, University of London. He worked in this position for 5 years.

In 1871, Maxwell returned to Cambridge and created the first laboratory in England for research in the field of physics, which was called the Cavendish Laboratory (in honor of Henry Cavendish). Development of the laboratory, which has become a real center scientific research, Maxwell dedicated the rest of his life.

Little is known about Maxwell's life, since he did not keep records or diaries. He was a modest and shy man. Maxwell died at the age of 48 from cancer.

What is James Maxwell's scientific legacy?

Scientific activity Maxwell covered many areas in physics: the theory of electromagnetic phenomena, kinematic theory of gases, optics, elasticity theory and others. The first thing that interested James Maxwell was studying and conducting research in the physiology and physics of color vision.

Maxwell was the first to obtain a color image, which was obtained through the simultaneous projection of the red, green and blue range. By this Maxwell Once again proved to the world that color vision is based on the three-component theory. This discovery marked the beginning of the creation of color photographs. In the period from 1857-1859, Maxwell was able to study the stability of Saturn's rings. His theory suggests that the rings of Saturn will be stable only under one condition - the disconnection of particles or bodies from each other.

Since 1855, Maxwell paid special attention to work in the field of electrodynamics. There are several scientific works of this period “On Faraday's lines of force”, “On physical lines of force”, “Treatise on electricity and magnetism” and “Dynamic theory of electrical magnetic field».

Maxwell and the theory of the electromagnetic field.

When Maxwell began to study electrical and magnetic phenomena, many of them had already been well studied. Was created Coulomb's law, Ampere's law, it has also been proven that magnetic interactions are related to the action of electric charges. Many scientists of that time were supporters of the theory of long-range action, which states that interaction occurs instantaneously and in empty space.

The main role in the theory of short-range interaction was played by the research of Michael Faraday (30s of the 19th century). Faraday argued that the nature of electric charge was based on the surrounding electric field. The field of one charge is connected to the neighboring one in two directions. Currents interact using a magnetic field. According to Faraday, he described magnetic and electric fields in the form of lines of force, which are elastic lines in a hypothetical medium - the ether.

Maxwell supported Faraday's theory of the existence of electromagnetic fields, that is, he was a supporter of emerging processes around charge and current.

Maxwell explained Faraday's ideas in mathematical form, something that physics really needed. With the introduction of the concept of field, the laws of Coulomb and Ampere became more convincing and deeply meaningful. In the concept of electromagnetic induction, Maxwell was able to consider the properties of the field itself. Under the influence of an alternating magnetic field, a electric field with closed power lines. This phenomenon is called a vortex electric field.

Maxwell's next discovery was that an alternating electric field can generate a magnetic field, similar to a normal one. electric current. This theory was called the displacement current hypothesis. Subsequently, Maxwell expressed the behavior of electromagnetic fields in his equations.

Reference. Maxwell's equations are equations describing electromagnetic phenomena in various media and vacuum space, and also relate to classical macroscopic electrodynamics. This is a logical conclusion drawn from experiments based on the laws of electrical and magnetic phenomena.
The main conclusion of Maxwell's equations is the finiteness of the propagation of electric and magnetic interactions, which distinguished between the theory of short-range action and the theory of long-range action. Speed ​​characteristics approached the speed of light 300,000 km/s. This gave Maxwell reason to argue that light is a phenomenon associated with the action of electromagnetic waves.

Molecular kinetic theory of Maxwell's gases.

Maxwell contributed to the study of molecular kinetic theory (now this science is called statistical mechanics). Maxwell was the first to come up with the idea of ​​the statistical nature of the laws of nature. He created a law for the distribution of molecules by speed, and he also managed to calculate the viscosity of gases in relation to speed indicators and the free path of gas molecules. Also, thanks to Maxwell's work, we have a number of thermodynamic relations.

Reference. Maxwell's distribution is a theory of the velocity distribution of molecules of a system under conditions of thermodynamic equilibrium. Thermodynamic equilibrium is a condition for the translational motion of molecules described by the laws of classical dynamics.

Maxwell had many scientific works that were published: “The Theory of Heat”, “Matter and Motion”, “Electricity in Elementary Exposition” and others. Maxwell not only advanced science during the period, but was also interested in its history. At one time, he managed to publish the works of G. Cavendish, which he supplemented with his comments.

What does the world remember about James Clerk Maxwell?

Maxwell led active work on the study of electromagnetic fields. His theory about their existence received worldwide recognition only a decade after his death.

Maxwell was the first to classify matter and assign each its own laws, which were not reducible to Newton's laws of mechanics.

Many scientists have written about Maxwell. Physicist R. Feynman said about him that Maxwell, who discovered the laws of electrodynamics, looked centuries into the future.

Epilogue. James Clerk Maxwell died on November 5, 1879 in Cambridge. He was buried in a small Scottish village near his favorite church, which is not far from his family estate.

MAXWELL, James Clerk

English physicist James Clerk Maxwell was born in Edinburgh into the family of a Scottish nobleman from the noble Clerk family. He studied first at Edinburgh (1847–1850), then at Cambridge (1850–1854) universities. In 1855, Maxwell became a member of the council of Trinity College, in 1856–1860. was a professor at Marischal College, University of Aberdeen, and from 1860 headed the department of physics and astronomy at King's College, University of London. In 1865, due to a serious illness, Maxwell resigned from the department and settled on his family estate of Glenlare near Edinburgh. There he continued to study science and wrote several essays on physics and mathematics. In 1871 he took the chair of experimental physics at the University of Cambridge. Maxwell organized a research laboratory, which opened on June 16, 1874 and was named Cavendish in honor of Henry Cavendish.

Maxwell completed his first scientific work while still at school, inventing a simple way to draw oval shapes. This work was reported at a meeting of the Royal Society and even published in its Proceedings. While a member of the Council of Trinity College, he was engaged in experiments on color theory, acting as a continuator of Jung's theory and Helmholtz's theory of three primary colors. In experiments on color mixing, Maxwell used a special top, the disk of which was divided into sectors, colored in different colors(Maxwell disk). When the top rotated quickly, the colors merged: if the disk was painted in the same way as the colors of the spectrum, it appeared white; if one half of it was painted red and the other half yellow, it appeared orange; mixing blue and yellow created the impression of green. In 1860, Maxwell was awarded the Rumford Medal for his work on color perception and optics.

In 1857, Cambridge University announced a competition for better job about the stability of Saturn's rings. These formations were discovered by Galileo at the beginning of the 17th century. and presented an amazing mystery of nature: the planet seemed surrounded by three continuous concentric rings, consisting of a substance of an unknown nature. Laplace proved that they cannot be solid. After conducting a mathematical analysis, Maxwell became convinced that they could not be liquid, and came to the conclusion that such a structure could only be stable if it consisted of a swarm of unrelated meteorites. The stability of the rings is ensured by their attraction to Saturn and the mutual movement of the planet and meteorites. For this work, Maxwell received the J. Adams Prize.

One of Maxwell's first works was his kinetic theory of gases. In 1859, the scientist gave a report at a meeting of the British Association in which he presented the distribution of molecules by speed (Maxwellian distribution). Maxwell developed the ideas of his predecessor in the development of the kinetic theory of gases by Rudolf Clausius, who introduced the concept of "mean free path". Maxwell proceeded from the idea of ​​a gas as an ensemble of many ideally elastic balls moving chaotically in a closed space. Balls (molecules) can be divided into groups according to speed, while in a stationary state the number of molecules in each group remains constant, although they can leave and enter groups. From this consideration it followed that “particles are distributed by speed according to the same law as observational errors are distributed in the theory of the least squares method, i.e. according to Gaussian statistics." As part of his theory, Maxwell explained Avogadro's law, diffusion, thermal conductivity, internal friction (transfer theory). In 1867 he showed the statistical nature of the second law of thermodynamics.

In 1831, the year Maxwell was born, Michael Faraday carried out the classic experiments that led him to the discovery of electromagnetic induction. Maxwell began to study electricity and magnetism about 20 years later, when there were two views on the nature of electric and magnetic effects. Scientists such as A. M. Ampere and F. Neumann adhered to the concept of long-range action, viewing electromagnetic forces as analogous to the gravitational attraction between two masses. Faraday was an adherent of the idea of ​​lines of force that connect positive and negative electrical charges or north and south poles magnet. Lines of force fill the entire surrounding space (field, in Faraday's terminology) and determine electrical and magnetic interactions. Following Faraday, Maxwell developed a hydrodynamic model of lines of force and expressed the then known relations of electrodynamics in a mathematical language corresponding to Faraday's mechanical models. The main results of this research are reflected in the work “Faraday's Lines of Force” (1857). In 1860–1865 Maxwell created the theory of the electromagnetic field, which he formulated in the form of a system of equations (Maxwell's equations) describing the basic laws of electromagnetic phenomena: the 1st equation expressed Faraday's electromagnetic induction; 2nd – magnetoelectric induction, discovered by Maxwell and based on ideas about displacement currents; 3rd – the law of conservation of electricity; 4th – vortex nature of the magnetic field.

Continuing to develop these ideas, Maxwell came to the conclusion that any changes in the electric and magnetic fields should cause changes in the lines of force that penetrate the surrounding space, i.e. there must be pulses (or waves) propagating in the medium. The speed of propagation of these waves (electromagnetic disturbance) depends on the dielectric and magnetic permeability of the medium and is equal to the ratio of the electromagnetic unit to the electrostatic one. According to Maxwell and other researchers, this ratio is 3·10 10 cm/s, which is close to the speed of light measured seven years earlier by the French physicist A. Fizeau. In October 1861, Maxwell informed Faraday about his discovery: light is an electromagnetic disturbance propagating in a non-conducting medium, i.e. a type of electromagnetic wave. This final stage of research is outlined in Maxwell’s work “The Dynamic Theory of the Electromagnetic Field” (1864), and the result of his work on electrodynamics was summed up in the famous “Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism” (1873).

James Maxwell short biography English physicist, creator of classical electrodynamics, one of the founders of statistical physics is presented in this article.

James Clerk Maxwell biography briefly

Maxwell James Clerk was born on June 13, 1831 in Edinburgh into the family of a Scottish nobleman. At the age of 10 he entered the Edinburgh Academy, where he became the first student.

From 1847 to 1850 he studied at the University of Edinburgh. Here I became interested in experiments in chemistry, optics, magnetism, and studied mathematics, physics, and mechanics. Three years later, to continue his education, James transferred to Trinity College Cambridge and began studying electricity from the book of M. Faraday. Then he began experimental research on electricity.
After successfully graduating from college (1854), the young scientist was invited to teach. Two years later he wrote an article “On Faraday lines of force.”

At the same time, Maxwell was developing the kinetic theory of gases. He derived a law according to which gas molecules are distributed according to their velocities (Maxwell's distribution).

In 1856-1860 Maxwell is a professor at the University of Aberdeen; in 1860-1865 he taught at King's College London, where he first met Faraday. It was during this period that it was created main job“Dynamic theory of the electromagnetic field” (1864-1865), in which the patterns he discovered are expressed in the form of systems of four differential equations (Maxwell’s equations). The scientist argued that a changing magnetic field forms a vortex electric field in surrounding bodies and in vacuum, and this, in turn, causes the appearance of a magnetic field.
This discovery became a new stage in the knowledge of the world. A. Poincaré considered Maxwell's theory to be the pinnacle of mathematical thought. Maxwell proposed that electromagnetic waves must exist and that their speed of propagation is equal to the speed of light. This means that light is a type of electromagnetic waves. He theoretically substantiated the phenomenon of light pressure.

Creator of classical electrodynamics, one of the founders of statistical physics.

Maxwell James Clerk (13.6.1831, Edinburgh - 5.11.1879, Cambridge), English physicist, creator of classical electrodynamics, one of the founders of statistical physics. Member of the Royal Society of London (1860). The son of a Scottish nobleman from a noble family of Clerks. He studied at Edinburgh (1847-50) and Cambridge (1850-54) universities. Professor at Marischal College, Aberdeen (1856-60), then at the University of London (1860-65). Since 1871 professor Cambridge University, where M. founded the first specially equipped physical laboratory in Great Britain - the Cavendish Laboratory, of which he was director since 1871.

M.'s scientific activities cover problems of electromagnetism, kinetic theory of gases, optics, elasticity theory, and much more. M. completed his first work, “On Drawing Ovals and Ovals with Many Tricks,” when he was not yet 15 years old (1846, published in 1851). Some of his first research was work on the physiology and physics of color vision and colorimetry (1852-72, see Color measurements). In 1861, M. was the first to demonstrate a color image obtained from the simultaneous projection of red, green, and blue slides onto a screen, thereby proving the validity of the three-component theory of color vision and at the same time outlining ways to create color photography. He created one of the first instruments for the quantitative measurement of color, which was called the disk of M. In 1857-59, M. carried out a theoretical study of the stability of the rings of Saturn and showed that the rings of Saturn can be stable only if they consist of unconnected solid particles.

In research on electricity and magnetism (articles “On Faradian lines of force”, 1855-56; “On physical lines of force”, 1861-62; “Dynamic theory of the electromagnetic field”, 1864; two-volume fundamental “Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism”, 1873 ) M. mathematically developed the views of M. Faraday on the role of the intermediate medium in electrical and magnetic interactions. He tried (following Faraday) to interpret this medium as an all-pervasive world ether, but these attempts were not successful. Further development physics showed that the carrier of electromagnetic interactions is the electromagnetic field, the theory of which (in classical physics) M. created. In this theory, M. summarized all the facts of macroscopic electrodynamics known at that time and for the first time introduced the idea of ​​a displacement current generating a magnetic field like an ordinary current (conduction current moving electric charges). M. expressed the laws of the electromagnetic field in the form of a system of 4 partial differential equations (see Maxwell's equations). The general and comprehensive nature of these equations was manifested in the fact that their analysis made it possible to predict many previously unknown phenomena and patterns. Thus, it followed from them the existence of electromagnetic waves, which were later experimentally discovered by G. Hertz. Studying these equations, M. came to the conclusion about the electromagnetic nature of light (1865) and showed that the speed of any other electromagnetic waves in a vacuum is equal to the speed of light. He measured (with greater accuracy than W. Weber and F. Kohlrausch in 1856) the ratio of the electrostatic unit of charge to the electromagnetic one and confirmed its equality to the speed of light. It followed from M.'s theory that electromagnetic waves produce pressure. Light pressure was experimentally established in 1899 by P. N. Lebedev.

The theory of electromagnetism has received complete experimental confirmation and has become the generally accepted classical basis of modern physics. The role of this theory was clearly described by A. Einstein: “... here a great turning point occurred, which is forever associated with the names of Faraday, Maxwell, Hertz. The lion's share in this revolution belongs to Maxwell... After Maxwell, physical reality was conceived in the form of continuous fields that cannot be explained mechanically... This change in the concept of reality is the most profound and fruitful of those that physics has experienced since the time of Newton" (Collected Scientific Works, Vol. 4, M., 1967, p. 138).

In studies on the molecular kinetic theory of gases (articles “Explanations to the dynamic theory of gases,” 1860, and “Dynamic theory of gases,” 1866), M. was the first to solve the statistical problem of the velocity distribution of molecules of an ideal gas (see Maxwell distribution). M. calculated the dependence of gas viscosity on the speed and mean free path of molecules (1860), calculating the absolute value of the latter, and derived a number of important thermodynamic relations (1860). Experimentally measured the viscosity coefficient of dry air (1866). In 1873-74 M. discovered the phenomenon of double refraction in a flow (M. effect).

M. was a major popularizer. He wrote a number of articles for the Encyclopedia Britannica, popular books [such as “The Theory of Heat” (1870), “Matter and Motion” (1873), “Electricity in Elementary Exposition” (1881), translated into Russian]. An important contribution to the history of physics is M.’s publication of manuscripts of G. Cavendish’s works on electricity (1879) with extensive comments by M.

State: Great Britain

Field of activity: Science, physics

Greatest Achievement: Became the founder of electrodynamics.

Ever since science was opened to all of humanity, everyone has tried to find something new in it. And write your name in history. Of course, people who are interested humanities, the names of physicists, chemists and mathematicians are unknown. But, nevertheless, there are some personalities who are on the lips of everyone, even people who have no idea what physics is. James Maxwell is one such scientist who left his mark on the history of mathematics and physics.

James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist, best known for his formulation of electromagnetic theory. He is regarded by most modern physicists as the 19th-century scientist who had the greatest influence on 20th-century physics, and he holds pride of place with Isaac Newton and for the fundamental nature of his contributions.

early years

The future physicist was born on June 13, 1831 in Edinburgh. The original surname was Clerk, with an additional surname added by his father, who worked as a lawyer and inherited the Middleby estate. James was an only child. His parents married quite late for those times, and his mother was 40 years old at the time of his birth. The boy spent his childhood on the Middleby estate, which was renamed Glenlare.

His mother died in 1839 from abdominal cancer, and his father became the main figure in his upbringing. It was thanks to him that young James became interested in the exact sciences. At school he showed a keen curiosity about early age and had a phenomenal memory. In 1841 he was sent to school at the Edinburgh Academy. Other students included his future biographer Lewis Campbell and his friend Peter Guthrie Tait.

Maxwell's interests went far beyond school curriculum, and he didn't pay much attention to the exam results. His first scientific work, published when he was only 14 years old, described a generalized series of oval curves that could be traced using pins and threads, analogous to an ellipse. This fascination with geometry and mechanical models continued throughout his career and was a great help in his subsequent research.

At 16 he entered Edinburgh University, where he voraciously read books on all subjects and published two more scientific works. In 1850 he entered Cambridge. After graduation, James was offered a teaching position. At that time, he was interested in electricity and colors, which would later form the basis of the first color photography.

Career and discoveries of James Muswell

In 1854 he continued to work at Trinity College, but as his father's health deteriorated he had to return to Scotland. In 1856 he was appointed professor of natural philosophy at Marischal College, Aberdeen, but this appointment was overshadowed by the sad news of his father's death. This was a great personal loss for Maxwell, as he had a close relationship with his dad. In June 1858, Maxwell married Catherine Dewar, daughter of the director of the college where he began working. The couple did not have children, but there was a trusting relationship and mutual respect.

In 1860 Marischal and King's College merged to form the University of Aberdeen. Maxwell was asked to leave his position. He applied for a position at Edinburgh University but was rejected in favor of his school friend Tait. After the refusal, James moves to London.

The next five years were undoubtedly the most fruitful of his career. During this period, two of his classic works on electromagnetic field, and his demonstration of color photography took place. Maxwell led the experimental determination of electrical units for the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and this work in measurement and standardization led to the creation of the National Physical Laboratory.

It was Maxwell's research on electromagnetism that created his name among the greats history scientists. In the preface to his treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (1873), Maxwell stated that his main task was to transform Faraday's physical ideas into mathematical form. In an attempt to illustrate Faraday's law of induction (that a changing magnetic field produces an induced electromagnetic field), Maxwell constructed a mechanical model. He found that the model generated a corresponding "displacement current" in the dielectric medium, which could then be the site of transverse waves. By calculating the speed of these waves, he found that they were very close to the speed of light.

Maxwell's theory proposed that electromagnetic waves could be generated in a laboratory, a possibility first demonstrated by Heinrich Hertz in 1887, eight years after Maxwell's death. In addition to his electromagnetic theory, Maxwell made major contributions to other areas of physics. Still at the age of 20, he demonstrated his mastery of classical physics by writing an essay on the rings of Saturn, in which he concluded that the rings must be composed of masses of matter unrelated to each other—a conclusion that was confirmed more than 100 years later the first Voyager space probe to reach the ringed planet.

last years of life

In 1871, Maxwell was elected as the new professor at Cavendish College, Cambridge. He began designing the local laboratory and supervised its construction. Maxwell had few students, but they were of the highest caliber and included William D. Niven, John Ambrose (later to become Sir John Ambrose), Richard Tetley Glazebrooke, John Henry Poynting and Arthur Schuster.

During Easter 1879, Maxwell became seriously ill with abdominal cancer. What his mother once died from. Unable to lecture as before, he returned to Glenlare in June, but his condition did not improve. The great physicist James Muswell died on November 5, 1879. Oddly enough, Maxwell received no public honors and was buried quietly in a small cemetery in the village of Parton, Scotland.