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    James Clerk Maxwell: A Short Biography Giant of Nineteenth-Century Physics
    James Clerk Maxwell: A Short Biography Giant of Nineteenth-Century Physics
    James Clerk Maxwell: A Short Biography Giant of Nineteenth-Century Physics
    Ebook66 pages53 minutes

    James Clerk Maxwell: A Short Biography Giant of Nineteenth-Century Physics

    By Doug West

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    About this ebook

    Whether you are talking on your cell phone, watching your favorite television program, surfing the web, or using your GPS to guide you on a trip, these are all modern conveniences that were made possible by the foundational work of the nineteenth-century Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell. Though Maxwell didn’t discover electricity and magnetism, he did put in place a mathematical formulation of electricity and magnetism that built upon the earlier work of Benjamin Franklin, André-Marie Ampère, Michael Faraday, and others.

    The genius of Maxwell’s work was not limited to his study of electricity and magnetism. He made breakthrough contributions to geometric optics, color photography, photo-elasticity, the theory of Saturn’s rings, thermodynamics, and more. Maxwell was a man of wide cultural and philosophical interests with a strong Christian faith. He is regarded by most current physicists as the scientist of the nineteenth-century who had the greatest influence on twentieth-century physics. He is ranked with Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein for the fundamental importance of his contributions. His influence across many areas of physical science has been enormous, with much of his work so far ahead of his time it would take years to confirm.

    Read about this great scientist who shook up the world of physics by purchasing the book “James Clerk Maxwell: A Short Biography.”

    30-Minute Book Series
    Welcome to the 33nd book in the 30-Minute Book Series. Books in this series are fast-paced, accurate, and cover the story in as much detail as a short book possibly can. Most people complete each book in less than an hour, which makes the books in the series a perfect companion for your lunch hour or a little down time.

    About the Author
    Doug West is a retired engineer and an experienced non-fiction writer with several books to his credit. His writing interests are general, with special expertise in history, science, biographies, and “How To” topics. Doug has a Ph.D. in General Engineering from Oklahoma State University.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDoug West
    Release dateNov 2, 2018
    ISBN9780463266472
    James Clerk Maxwell: A Short Biography Giant of Nineteenth-Century Physics
    Author

    Doug West

    Doug West is a retired engineer, small business owner, and an experienced non-fiction writer with several books to his credit. His writing interests are general, with expertise in science, history, biographies, numismatics, and “How to” topics. Doug has a B.S. in Physics from the Missouri School of Science and Technology and a Ph.D. in General Engineering from Oklahoma State University. He lives with his wife and little dog “Millie” near Kansas City, Missouri.

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      Book preview

      James Clerk Maxwell - Doug West

      James Clerk Maxwell: A Short Biography

      Giant of Nineteenth-Century Physics

      Doug West, Ph.D.

      James Clerk Maxwell: A Short Biography

      Giant of Nineteenth-Century Physics

      Copyright © 2018 Doug West

      All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author. Reviewers may quote brief passages in reviews.

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Table of Contents

      Preface

      Introduction

      Chapter 1 – Early Life

      Chapter 2 – Edinburgh and Cambridge Universities

      Chapter 3 – Marischal College

      Chapter 4 – King’s College

      Chapter 5 – Cavendish Laboratory and Final Days

      Chapter 6 – Scientific Accomplishments and Legacy

      Timeline

      Biographical Sketches

      References and Further Reading

      Acknowledgments

      About the Author

      Preface

      Welcome to the book, James Clerk Maxwell: A Short Biography. This book is volume 33 of the 30 Minute Book Series and, as the name of the series implies, if you are an average reader this book will take around 30 minutes to read. Since this short book is not meant to be an all-encompassing biography of James Clerk Maxwell, you may want to know more about this man and his accomplishments. To help you with this, there are several good references at the end of this book. I have also provided a Timeline, so you can link together the important events in Maxwell’s life, and a section titled Biographical Sketches, which gives a short biography of some of the key individuals in the book.

      Thank you for purchasing this book, and I hope you enjoy your time reading about this legendary nineteenth-century scientist.

      Doug West

      November 2018

      Introduction

      Since Maxwell's time, physical reality has been thought of as represented by continuous fields, and not capable of any mechanical interpretation. This change in the conception of reality is the most profound and the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton. – Albert Einstein

      Whether you are talking on your cell phone, watching your favorite television program, surfing the web, or using your GPS to guide you on a trip, these are all modern conveniences that were made possible by the foundational

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