The 1997 Digital Preservation of "The Life of James Clerk Maxwell"

We know James Clerk Maxwell primarily for Maxwell?s equations. While I personally have been working only several decades with Maxwell?s equations, there are many researchers who have been working with his equations for their entire professional careers. But what do we know about Maxwell the person? Where are all the biographies of this person described by Richard Feynman as the greatest physicist of the 19th century, the one person who, after the Civil War of the same century is long forgotten, will still be shining brightly?

There are very few biographies of Maxwell. The most comprehensive biography was written by a life-long friend, Lewis Campbell with help from William Garnett. It is considered a primary historical reference on Maxwell. Published in 1882, shortly after Maxwell?s death, it is today found only in the rare book rooms of large libraries. However, now the entire text of the book with figures included is available here.

In December of 1996, I gained access to a copy. As I started reading it, I was moved to engage in a major project: to digitize the book and to convert the images into word processor files (by means of OCR, Optical Character Recognition, software) so that others might enjoy the book as well.

The book is in three parts: 1) A description of his life, 2) A description of his scientific works, 3) A collection of his poetry.

I hope you enjoy discovering the personal side of one of the giants upon whose shoulders we stand.

--James C. Rautio
Sonnet Software, Inc.

"Maxwell's Legacy" - Article as it appears in the IEEE Microwave Magazine - June 2005

This is an article that I wrote for the June 2005 issue of the IEEE Microwave Magazine discussing the events that shaped and led to Maxwell's founding of the field of electromagnetic theory.  You can click here to download the article.

IEEE MTT-S Distinguished Microwave Lecture Series on the Life of James Clerk Maxwell