James Clerk Maxwell
1831–1879 · Scottish · Victorian Era
Known for: Unified electricity, magnetism, and light into Maxwell's equations
James Clerk Maxwell wrote four equations that explained electricity, magnetism, and light as aspects of a single force—arguably the most elegant achievement in physics history. His equations predicted the existence of radio waves decades before anyone detected them. Einstein said Maxwell's work was 'the most profound and fruitful that physics has experienced since Newton.'
He died of stomach cancer at 48—the same age and disease that killed his mother. In his tragically short life, he also made foundational contributions to statistical mechanics, color theory (he took the first color photograph), and the kinetic theory of gases.
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