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Maxwell to join ranks of the great in George Street

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Published Date: 17 November 2008
A STATUE honouring one of Scotland's most eminent scientists will take pride of place in Edinburgh city centre later this month.
James Clerk Maxwell, the Edinburgh University graduate whose work inspired the likes of Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton, will become the first new statue to arrive on George Street for almost 100 years.

The leading Scots sculptor Sandy Stoddart, whose statue of philosopher Adam Smith was unveiled in the Royal Mile earlier this year, has created the new £300,000 statue, to be unveiled on 25 November.

Born in 1831 at 14 India Street, Edinburgh, Maxwell was brought up in the city, and then became a student at Edinburgh University at the age of 16. He was the youngest ever member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, being accepted at the age of 14.

He famously pioneered colour photography and through the discovery of electromagnetic waves paved the way for radio television and the mobile phone.





The full article contains 167 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 16 November 2008 8:10 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

Destroy the Planet,

17/11/2008 06:48:18
Mare clutter
2

roadstohell,

17/11/2008 08:31:43
James Clerk Maxwell, the Edinburgh University graduate whose work inspired the likes of Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton

Mhhh I think you will find that Isaac Newton had been dead rather a long time by the time JCM did any of his work, and so was unlikely to have been inspired by JCM
3

Deucharman,

Edinburgh 17/11/2008 08:51:00
I think the writer would have been better to quote Ivan Tolstoy, biographer of Maxwell: “Maxwell's importance in the history of scientific thought is comparable to Einstein’s (whom he inspired) and to Newton’s (whose influence he curtailed)”

Albert Einstein himself said: "The special theory of relativity owes its origins to Maxwell's equations of the electromagnetic field." and also: "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"

And Nobel Laureate Richard P Feynman had this to say: "From a long view of the history of mankind - seen from, say, ten thousand years from now - there can be little doubt that the most significant event of the 19th century will be judged as Maxwell's discovery of the laws of electrodynamics"

It is great news that James Clerk Maxwell takes his rightful place amongst Edinburgh's statuary.

See www.clerkmaxwellfoundation.org to learn more about this most influential scientist.
4

Happy Hibee,

17/11/2008 10:38:18
#3 A nice post.

A statue would be a fitting, but belated tribute to one of our finest.
5

Kate,

Zurich 17/11/2008 14:03:59
He must have had a reincarnation to have inspired both Newton and Einstein!
6

Ayrshire Laddie,

Ayrshire 25/11/2008 11:02:01
Albert Einstein was born in the Kingdom of Württemberg in the German Empire on 14 March 1879.
Maxwell born 1831 so it might be possible he inspired Einstein so a re incarnation was not required however he won't have inspired Newton.

 

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