James Clerk Maxwell

James is also known for being one of the few people in the world whose beard is longer than your father's

James Clerk Maxwell was a famous physicist, and you've probably seen his name in a physics textbook at school. And what did he do that was so important? Well... he basically invented modern electromagnetism, and thanks to electromagnetism, you can waste your time sending countless useless messages on WhatsApp!

Biography

Childhood

James was born in 1831. From a very young age, he was always a nerd, so he was constantly teased at school because of it. He then decided he wanted to make a name for himself, so he thought about becoming an astronaut, but James was a coward and was always worried, so he gave up on the idea of becoming an astronaut.

Adulthood

Some time after finishing high school, he was still living at his parents house because he was lazy and couldn’t find a job. After his father insisted repeatedly, he finally decided to go to the University of Edinburgh, where he studied physics. Some time after completing his bachelor’s degree in physics at the university, he wrote a few scientific articles for various journals, just to get some attention. Some time later, he decided to become a teacher. He made several contributions (which we will discuss below) and passed away years later, in 1879.

Contributions

Electromagnetism

Maxwell took everything we know about electromagnetism and turned it all into 20 complicated equations. He made many other contributions to electromagnetism, but if we were to list them all, this section would be enormous.

Photography

It was James who took the first color photograph. The photo is pretty strange and nonsensical (I doubt even James himself knew what was in the picture)