Maxwell Equations

1065 James clerk Maxwell or infamously mathematically difficult Maxwell's equations that were to
transform our world // for example when Einstein was asked if he stood on the shoulders of
Newton // he replied no on the shoulders of Max but who was James Maxwell why are his equations
important and why did he write them in the first place it all has to do with a famous scientist named
Michael Faraday who had no math skills and a young Lord Kelvin of temperature fade who inspired
them both ready for this // in 1845 a 21 year old student named William Thompson later knighted
Lord Calvin inspired the already famous 54 year old Michael Faraday to conduct an experiment that
found the leak between electricity magnetism and light// the next year Faraday postulated the
maybe light was really vibrations of electric and or magnetic fields// although he called them electric
and magnetic lines of force this is a radical idea and most legitimate scientists thought it was
nonsense // to make matters worse he had rapidly failing memory and was suffering from severe
depression probably from mercury // also many scientists at the time looked down on Faraday for
his low class background as well as his lack of mathematical ability// Fast forward nine years , 1853
James clerk Maxwell was a 23 year old Scottish maths and physics student at Cambridge famous for
his intelligence with late hours // Supposedly when he heard there was a //1853 was an important
year for Maxwell because he moved into his own place or as he put it entered into the unholy state
of bachelorhood and had more time to do independent research //he decided to attack electricity
and asked his friend Thompson for advice on who to read , looking, for, quote any notions// Maxwell
specifically wanted to know if he should start with a mathematical scientist or start with Faraday who
never used math// Thompson who was the same person who inspired Faraday earlier advised
Maxwell to start with Faraday // Maxwell read faraday and surprisingly thought that it was secretly
mathematical// moreover Maxwell felt that he could convert faradays map into conventional map
which he promptly did// in 1855 Maxwell published on faraday's lines support ,Faraday was
impressed and wrote Maxwell plead to quote translate them out of their hieroglyphics IE math that
we might work upon them by experiments //meanwhile Maxwell has become at age 25 a full
professor at marischal College in Aberdeen// it was an instant match and they were married in June
of 1859 they never had any children but we're a little obsessed with their dog Toby Catherine was
also a scientist we don't know exactly how much she contributed to Maxwell's work as a fire burned
down many of their papers and biographers were hesitant to mention her contributions in that sexist
society// we do know however that when someone asked James Maxwell for some data// he replied
quote my better half who did all the real work in kinetic theory is it present engaged in other
research when she is done I will let you know her answer to your inquiry //the Maxwell's then
moved to London and James Maxwell became a professor at King's College //at this time Maxwell
and his wife did pioneering work on color including a method for creating the first color
photograph ,molecular three-dimensional analysis and how gases flow //James Maxwell continue to
research how to add conventional mathematics to faraday's theories// he was particularly interested
in ferriday's theory of 1846// the light was really a vibration of electric or magnetic //at this time
William Thompson told Maxwell to read two German physicists Weber and Kohlrausch would
experimentally connected the units of electricity to the units of magnetism Weber at all
experimentally determine the speed which they label see probably because they already have an
A&B in their paper //this speed turned out to be the speed of light This is why the speed of light is
labeled C and Einstein's famous E equals MC squared equation //anyway in 1865 Maxwell where the
paper where he coined the term field instead of faraday's lines of force Maxwell excitedly wrote and
that quote till I'm convinced to the contrary I hold my new paper to be great God //and he was right
in this paper Maxwell claimed that weber’s results are quote so nearly that of light that seems we
have a strong reason to conclude that light itself is an electromagnetic wave// to Maxwell his paper
with all of these equations with the same in substance as faraday's ideas from 1846 except as
Maxwell put it in 1846 there was no data to calculate the velocity propagation// Maxwell's equations
were more than just an equation for light// however they actually put all of the electric and magnetic
theory in one beautiful package describing them all through the lens of interrelated electric and
magnetic fields //for example in 1820 a man named oersted found the current or moving charges will
move a magnet and Maxwell's equation, the moving charges create a moving electric field which
creates a magnetic field// in another example ferrety found in 1831 that moving a magnet in a coil
would create current in that coil which is why Faraday came up with the idea of magnetic lines of
force in the first place// maxwells equations describe how a changing magnetic field will create an
electric field which creates a current //it's hard to overestimate how important Maxwell's equations
are to physicists //100 years after Maxwell the famous physicist Richard feynman poetically said
10,000 years from now the most significant events of the 19th century will be judged as Maxwell's
discovery of the laws of electromagnetism// the American Civil War will pale into provincial
insignificance in comparison //although Maxwell's equations were heralded as genius by the late
1800s at the time they were mostly ignored the theories were bizarre and the mathematics was truly
argue //in fact the original form of Maxwell's equations had a whopping 20 interconnected equations
//however soon a group of young scientists calling themselves maxwellian started to promote his
theories and simplified it //in 1884 a maxwellian named Oliver heaviside use something he created
called vector calculus to get the modern form of Maxwell's equations with just four interconnected
equations //back in the 1860s Faraday was pleased with Maxwell's attention but was getting more
feeble and confused, he gave his last free Christmas lecture for kids in 1860 and his last experiment
on the magnetic influence on the light produced by glowing gas on March 12th 1862// by the way
fair day's last experiment was unsuccessful but many years later a man named Peter zeeman did the
experiment with more sensitive equipment and won a Nobel Prize for it 1902 //faraday died August
25th 1867 and as was his wish has a plain simple funeral followed by gravestone of the most ordinary
kind in the simplest birthplace// meanwhile the maxwells continue to do research and develop new
ideas //tragically 1877 when James Maxwell was working on a new electromagnetism paper he
began to suffer from severe heartburn, he was then diagnosed with stomach cancer James clerk
Maxwell died on November 5th 1879, when he was just 48 years old //his local doctor ended his
medical report on Maxwell by adding I must say he's one of the best men I've ever met //A sentiment
shared by most of the people who knew him Catherine died seven years later and the little is known
of her activities after her husband's death// she has no status the same year James Maxwell died a
maxwellian named Humboldt offered a prize of 100 duckets for an experiment that would prove
quote the theory of electrodynamics which was brought forth by Faraday was mathematically
executed by Mr. Maxwell //helmholtz asked his 22 year old grad student Heinrich Hertz to attempt it
but Hertz was too intimidated //eight years later Hertz got a giant spark one side of the room to
create a tiny spark on the other side// how Maxwell and Faraday and helmholtz inspired Hertz to
discover radio waves //