{Jobs}1074jw/makeup/ffirs.3d The MAN Who CHANGED EVERYTHING The Life of James Clerk Maxwell Basil Mahon {Jobs}1074jw/makeup/ftoc.3d {Jobs}1074jw/makeup/ffirs.3d The MAN Who CHANGED EVERYTHING {Jobs}1074jw/makeup/ffirs.3d {Jobs}1074jw/makeup/ffirs.3d The MAN Who CHANGED EVERYTHING The Life of James Clerk Maxwell Basil Mahon {Jobs}1074jw/makeup/ffirs.3d Published in the UK in 2003 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 8SQ, England Telephone (þ44) 1243 779777 Email (for orders and customer service enquiries): [email protected] Visit our Home Page on www.wileyeurope.com or www.wiley.com Copyright # 2003 Basil Mahon All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP, UK, without the permission in writing of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 8SQ, England, or emailed to [email protected], or faxed to (þ44) 1243 770620. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Basil Mahon has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Other Wiley Editorial Offices John Wiley & Sons Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA Jossey-Bass, 989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741, USA Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, Boschstr. 12, D-69469 Weinheim, Germany John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd, 33 Park Road, Milton, Queensland 4064, Australia John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte Ltd, 2 Clementi Loop #02-01, Jin Xing Distripark, Singapore 129809 John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd, 22 Worcester Road, Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada M9W 1L1 Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0-470-86088-X 1= 1 Typeset in 102 132pt Photina by Mathematical Composition Setters Ltd, Salisbury, Wiltshire Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall. This book is printed on acid-free paper responsibly manufactured from sustainable forestry in which at least two trees are planted for each one used for paper production. {Jobs}1074jw/makeup/ftoc.3d CONTENTS List of illustrations ix Preface xi Acknowledgements xiii Chronology: principal events in Maxwell’s life xv Cast of characters: Maxwell’s relations and close friends xix Introduction 1 1 A country boy: Glenlair 1831^1841 4 2 Pins and string: Edinburgh Academy 1841^1847 11 3 Philosophy: Edinburgh University 1847^1850 23 4 Learning to juggle: Cambridge 1850^1854 35 5 Blue and yellow make pink: Cambridge 1854^1856 48 6 Saturn and statistics: Aberdeen 1856^1860 69 7 Spinning cells: London 1860^1862 90 8 The beautiful equations: London 1862^1865 111 9 The Laird at home: Glenlair 1865^1871 128 10 The Cavendish: Cambridge 1871^1879 147 11 Last days 171 12 Maxwell’s legacy 176 Notes 186 Bibliography 212 Index 215 {Jobs}1074jw/makeup/ftoc.3d {Jobs}1074jw/makeup/fbetw.3d DEDICATION To Ann {Jobs}1074jw/makeup/fbetw.3d {Jobs}1074jw/makeup/floi.3d LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS [Text not available in this electronic edition.] {Jobs}1074jw/makeup/floi.3d {Jobs}1074jw/makeup/fpref.3d PREFACE fell under Maxwell’s spell when I was about 16 but for more Ithan 40 years he was a man of mystery. His name cropped up in all the popular accounts of twentieth century discoveries such as relativity and quantum theory, and when I became an engineering student I learnt that his equations were the fount of all knowledge in electromagnetism. They seemed to work by magicösomething I attributed, with good grounds, to imperfect understanding. But now that I understand the equations a little better they seem even more magical. Over the years the spell tightened its grip. My extensive, if desultory, reading on scientific matters served to deepen the mystery. Usually introduced as ‘the great James Clerk Maxwell’, his influence on the physical sciences seemed to be all-pervasive. Yet he was scarcely known in the wider world; most of my friends and colleagues had never heard of him, although all knew of Newton and Einstein and most knew of Faraday. What is more, nothing in what I had read revealed much about Maxwell’s life beyond the bare facts that he was Scottish and lived in the mid- nineteenth century. The time had come to unravel the mystery. A few years ago I looked him up in all the reference books I could find, starting in the local library. The Encyclopaedia Britannica had a helpful 2000 word entry and a short bibliography. It was like finding the way to a store of buried treasure. Maxwell was not only one of the most brilliant and influential scientists who ever lived but an altogether fine and engaging man. And he seemed to inspire in writers a unique combination of wonder and affection; a Times Literary Supplement editorial of 1925, preserved in Trinity College Library, sums it up by saying that Maxwell was ‘to physicists, easily the most magical figure of the nineteenth century’. {Jobs}1074jw/makeup/fpref.3d PREFACE I have tried to tell the story simply and directly, putting the reader at Maxwell’s side, seeing the world from his perspective as his life unfolds. Hence the main narrative contains few references to sources and no more background or detail than is needed for the story. The separate Notes section attends to these aspects and gives some interesting sidelights. To his friends, and he had many, Maxwell was the warmest and most inspiring of companions. I hope this book will leave readers glad that they, too, know him a little. xii {Jobs}1074jw/makeup/flast.3d ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS nyone who writes, or indeed reads, about Maxwell owes a Agreat debt to Lewis Campbell, who gave us an affectionate yet penetrating picture of his lifelong friend in The Life of James Clerk Maxwell, co-written with William Garnett and published 3 years after Maxwell’s death. Campbell and Garnett’s book has been the principal source of information for all subsequent biographies and I would like to add my tribute and my thanks to those given by other authors. I am also much indebted to the more recent biographers Francis Everitt, Ivan Tolstoy and Martin Goldman for their added insights, to Daniel Siegel and Peter Harman for their scholarly but reader- friendly analyses of Maxwell’s work, and to the other authors listed in the bibliography. Several patient friends have kindly read drafts and suggested improvements; among these I am particularly grateful to Harold Allan and Bill Crouch. John Bilsland supplied excellent line drawings for the figures, and David Ritchie and Dick Dougal located many of the sources for the illustrations. The Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh gave valuable help, as did the Royal Institution of Great Britain, King’s College London, the University of Aberdeen, Trinity College Cambridge, the University of Cambridge Department of Physics, Cambridge University Library, the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Electrical Engineers and Clifton College. A visit to Maxwell’s birthplace at 14 India Street, Edinburgh, is a moving experience for anyone with an interest in Maxwell. It is possible only because the trustees of the James Clerk Maxwell Foundation service acquired the house in 1993 and have with trouble and care created a small but evocative museum. I should like to thank them for this service. {Jobs}1074jw/makeup/flast.3d ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am especially grateful to Sam Callander and to David and Astrid Ritchie for their generous encouragement and kindness. The final words of thanks go to Wiley for publishing the book, and especially to my editor Sally Smith and her assistant Jill Jeffries for their friendly and expert help and guidance. xiv {Jobs}1074jw/makeup/flast1.3d CHRONOLOGY Principal events in Maxwell’s life 1831 Born at 14 India Street, Edinburgh, 13 June. Grew up at Glenlair 1839 His mother, Frances, died 1841 Started school, Edinburgh Academy 1846 Published his first paper, on oval curves 1847 Started at University of Edinburgh 1848 Published paper On Rolling Curves 1850 Published paper On the Equilibrium of Elastic Solids Started at Cambridge University, Peterhouse for one term, then Trinity 1854 Finished undergraduate studies at Cambridge: second wrangler, joint winner of Smith’s Prize: started post-graduate work 1855 Published paper Experiments on Colour as Perceived by the Eye Published first part of paper On Faraday’s Lines of Force, second part the following year Elected Fellow of Trinity 1856 His father, John, died Appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy at Marischal College, Aberdeen 1858 Awarded Adams’ Prize for essay On the Stability of the Motion of Saturn’s Rings, paper published 1859 1858 Married Katherine Mary Dewar, daughter of Principal of Marischal College 1860 Published