Thoughts And Trivia

When we think of science, names of Einstein and Newton come to mind instantly, but not of James Clerk Maxwell. Beg your pardon! Who is this Maxwell, whose name is being taken in the same sentence, as Einstein and Newton? Blasphemy?
James Clerk Maxwell (1839-1879) changed the very perception of reality, by discovering the inter-relation of magnetism and electricity. He wrote equations to explain this inter-relation.
These equations also disclosed possibility of electromagnetic waves, which travel at the speed of light. These waves could not be described mechanically.
This was really a shift of gears in science, from mechanical concerns, to invisible reality behind the mechanical world.
It was a shift from Sherlock Holmes to Harry Potter.
It took 25 years, for Hertz to experimentally show existence of these waves. These waves are now warp and weft of the fabric of our civilization - TV, Telephones, Radio, Satellite Communication, RADAR etc. Visible light is also such waves, but occupy only a small portion of the spectrum of these waves.
More than making possible these discoveries, its the seminal leap in the concept of reality as a continuum of fields, that is his greatest contribution. All of Quantum Mechanics, Relativity and Particle Physics are founded on reality and Mathematics of this concept of continuum of fields.
James Clerk Maxwell is the real Prima Donna of modern Physics.

Posted by Girish Bhatnagar at Saturday, May 14, 2005