James Clerk Maxwell
Born: 13 June 1831 in Edinburgh, Scotland Died: 5 Nov 1879 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
James Clerk Maxwell was born at 14 India Street in Edinburgh, a house built by his parents in the 1820s, but shortly afterwards his family moved to their home at Glenlair in Kirkcudbrightshire about 20 km from Dumfries. There he enjoyed a country upbringing and his natural curiosity displayed itself at an early age. In a letter written on 25 April 1834 when 'The Boy' was not yet three years old he is described as follows, see :
He is a very happy man, and has improved much since the weather got moderate; he has great work with doors, locks, keys etc., and 'Show me how it doos' is never out of his mouth. He also investigates the hidden course of streams and bell-wires, the way the water gets from the pond through the wall and a pend or small bridge and down a drain ...
When James was eight years old his mother died. His parents plan that they would educate him at home until he was 13 years old, and that he would then be able to go the Edinburgh University, fell through. A 16 year old boy was hired to act as tutor but the arrangement was not a successful one and it was decided that James should attend the Edinburgh Academy. James, together with his family, arrived at 31 Heriot Row, the house of Isabella Wedderburn his father's sister, on 18 November 1841. He attended Edinburgh Academy where he had the nickname 'Dafty'. P G Tait, although almost the same age, was one class below James. Tait, who would become a close school friend and friend for life, described Maxwell's school days [39]:-
At school he was at first regarded as shy and rather dull. he made no friendships and spent his occasional holidays in reading old ballads, drawing curious diagrams and making rude mechanical models. This absorption in such pursuits, totally unintelligible to his schoolfellows, who were then totally ignorant of ma
