James Clerk Maxwell: Perspectives on his Life and Work

by Raymond Flood (Editor), Mark McCartney (Editor), Andrew Whitaker (Editor)

Overview

James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) had a relatively brief, but remarkable life, lived in his beloved rural home of Glenlair, and variously in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, London and Cambridge. His scholarship also ranged wide - covering all the major aspects of Victorian natural philosophy. He was one of the most important mathematical physicists of all time, coming only after Newton and Einstein. In scientific terms his immortality is enshrined in electromagnetism and Maxwell's equations, but as this book shows, there was much more to Maxwell than electromagnetism, both in terms of his science and his wider life. Maxwell's life and contributions to science are so rich that they demand the expertise of a range of academics - physicists, mathematicians, and historians of science and literature - to do him justice. The various chapters will enable Maxwell to be seen from a range of perspectives. Chapters 1 to 4 deal with wider aspects of his life in time and place, at Aberdeen, King's College London and the Cavendish Laboratory. Chapters 5 to 12 go on to look in more detail at his wide ranging contributions to science: optics and colour, the dynamics of the rings of Saturn, kinetic theory, thermodynamics, electricity, magnetism and electromagnetism with the concluding chapters on Maxwell's poetry and Christian faith.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191641268
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	01/09/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
File size:	29 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Raymond Flood is Gresham Professor of Geometry. He was Vice President of Kellogg College, Oxford and is an Emeritus fellow of Kellogg College. His main research interests are in the history of mathematics, and he was formerly President of the British Society for the History of Mathematics. Mark McCartney is Senior Lecturer in Mathematics at the University of Ulster. His research interests include nonlinear dynamics, the history of science and maths education. Andrew Whitaker is Emeritus Professor of Physics at Queen's University Belfast. His main research interest has been in the foundations of quantum theory and he also has an interest in the history of physics, having had The New Quantum Age published by Oxford University Press in 2011.

Table of Contents

Life1. Introductory Biography, Raymond Flood2. Maxwell at Aberdeen, John Reid3. Maxwell at King's College, London, John Reid4. Cambridge and Building the Cavendish Laboratory, Isobel FalconerScience5. Maxwell and the Science of Colour, Malcolm Longair6. Maxwell and the Rings of Saturn, Andrew Whitaker7. Maxwell's Kinetic Theory 1859-1870, Elizabeth Garber8. Maxwell and the Theory of Liquids, John Rowlinson9. Maxwell's Famous (or Infamous) Demon, Andrew Whitaker10. Maxwell's Contribution to Electricity and Magnetism, Dan Siegel11. 1. The Maxwellians: The Reception and Further Development of Maxwell's Electromagnetic Theory, Chen-Pang Yeang12. The Fluid Dynamics of James Clerk Maxwell, Keith MoffattPoetry, Religion and Conclusions13. Boundaries of Perception: James Clerk Maxwell's Poetry of Self, Senses and Science, Stella Pratt-Smith14. Maxwell, Faith and Physics, Philip Marston15. I Remember Years and Labours as a Tale that I have Read, Mark McCartney

Editorial Reviews

"The book offers enticing snapshots of Maxwell. ... [M]any readers will come away from perusing this book wanting to learn more about Maxwell's work, and it's consequences." —MAA Reviews

From the Publisher