James Clerk Maxwell

James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) was born in Edinburgh. He attended the Edinburgh Academy from 1841, and entered the University of Edinburgh in 1847. In 1850 he joined Peterhouse, Cambridge, but transferred to Trinity College in December of that year. He graduated in 1854, and became a fellow in 1855. In 1856 he was appointed professor of natural philosophy in Marischal College, Aberdeen, and in 1858 married Katherine Mary Dewar, the daughter of the principal. In 1860 he became professor of natural philosophy in King's College, London. He resigned in 1865, and retired to Glenlair until 1871, when he took the new chair of experimental physics at Cambridge. He died on 5 November 1879, following an illness.

Maxwell carried out research into the effects of combinations of colours by using a system of rotating coloured discs, which became known as his colour-top. His research led him to draw conclusions about primary colours and colour-blindness. He also examined the question of the distribution of velocity in a gas, and was involved in research and experiments concerning electricity and magnetism, on which he wrote a number of important papers.

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