Possibly a bit parochial but BBC2 Scotland are doing a documentary about James Clerk Maxwell tonight at 9pm. I didn’t find out about him until my 30’s and was astonished at his achievements and the fact that he is fairly unknown.

Some nice links from this page too.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06rd56j

His first paper was to rse on intersecting locuses aged 14 I think.

Idea came from staring at the ceiling of what I now the assembly hall at Edinburgh academy.

Yep he was a genuine old school genius – we owe our modern life so much to his achievements in Physics, i leaned about him whilst doing Electronic Engineering at college and his house (or what’s left of it) is quite local to me, currently owned by the quite fascinating and friendly Capt Duncan Ferguson.

James clerk Maxwell Foundation

We scots really punched above our weight back then 😀

Interesting documentary last night on the BBC – Shock & Awe The Story Of Electricity (pt 3), should be on iPlayer. Clark Maxwell gets a mention but not central to the theme. Well worth a watch, especially the take on Marconi which was news to me.

I didn’t find out about him until my 30’s and was astonished at his achievements and the fact that he is fairly unknown.

Well if you didn’t study science, it is not surprising.

Huge name in physics. Don’t they teach about him these days?

Good shout OP,forgot that it was on tonight.

ta scotroutes, could be interesting.

We do indeed owe much of our modern life to him and the minds that came before him in the scottish enlightenment. I walk past and peer into his house most days as it is just round the corner from my office, so it’s interesting to see that website – I’ve never thought to investigate.

Peter Higgs lives 2 doors along from my office too. I had to give his car a jump start one day because it had run out of electricity – I found this quite funny.

Well if you didn’t study science, it is not surprising.[/quote]Sort of proves my point. I’d hazard a guess that most of the population would have heard of Galileo, Newton and Einstein. James Clerk who?

Front man in the James Clerk Five.

I thought I knew about him because of his Equations, but it turns out I knew about a tenth of what he was about. Like you say, proper old school genius, like something straight out of the enlightenment “Right, I’m bored with electromagnetism now, I’m going to work out how gases move. Maybe after lunch, I’ll discover how our eyes see colour. And then in the evening I’ll pursue my career as a singer-songwriter. Then I’ll chill on sunday”

Fair play to todays’ geniuses though, it was easier to spread yourself around in those days.