Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gvh9x Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T13:07:18.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

PART II - CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENCE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2011

Lewis Campbell  and
William Garnett
Get access

Summary

“He was one of those who took more delight in the contemplation of truth than in the praise of having discovered it,”

Playfair'sMemoirs of Dr. Hutton.

At the close of the memoir published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, Mr. W. D. Niven, referring to Maxwell's scientific work, says:—

It is seldom that the faculties of invention and exposition, the attachment to physical science, and capability of developing it mathematically, have been found existing in one mind to the same degree. It would, however, require powers somewhat akin to Maxwell's own, to describe the more delicate features of the works resulting from this combination, every one of which is stamped with the subtle but unmistakable impress of genius.

It will probably be many years before an approximate estimate can be formed of the value of Maxwell's work. In the following pages no attempt has been made to give more than a brief account of a few of his principal contributions to science. The chief subjects referred to have, for convenience, been arranged in the following order:—

  1. Experiments on Colour Vision and other contributions to Optics.

  2. Investigations respecting Elastic Solids.

  3. Pure Geometry.

  4. Mechanics.

  5. Saturn's Rings.

  6. Faraday's Lines of Force, and Maxwell's Theory of the Electro-magnetic Field, including the Electro-magnetic Theory of Light and other investigations in Electricity.

  7. Molecular Physics.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Life of James Clerk Maxwell
With a Selection from his Correspondence and Occasional Writings and a Sketch of his Contributions to Science
 , pp. 465 - 576
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010
First published in: 1882

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×