James Clerk Maxwell

<p>2015 marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of one of the greatest scientific papers of all time, in which James Clerk Maxwell described his transformative theory of electromagnetism. This 28-minute film celebrates his life, his poetry, his creative genius as a mathematician and scientist and his love of Galloway, told through the journey of poet and writer Rab Wilson and featuring conversations with contemporary scientists, music, poetry and songs.</p>

<p>This film was produced with support from the James Clerk Maxwell Foundation and the Dr David Summers Charitable Trust. Commissioned by Wigtown Festival Company.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>00:08
could you name a famous scientist from
00:11
history any famous scientist it's
00:14
unsightly the first one
00:15
Einstein Einstein Isaac Newton Isaac
00:20
Newton yeah yeah bro it
00:24
you're interested in a guy called James
00:27
Clark Maxwell James Clark Maxwell no no
00:34
I haven't no really
00:36
and in a little far from here leesport
00:38
ish and I come for ten mail feed button
00:41
he'll know I held him he never had the
00:43
gyms clock marks or not
00:53
like most people I did not have a clue
00:56
who James Clark Marksville Wars yet I've
01:00
been told that is one of the most
01:02
important human beings that ever loved
01:04
and one of the greatest scientists of
01:07
all time I'm a poet and escorts every
01:12
mine so I have to say that the Gowanus
01:15
Johnny to find out more about James
01:19
Clark Marksville and the Empire that he
01:21
has hired on the modern world that we
01:24
live in know so who was James Clark Marx
01:31
well this is 14 industry James was born
01:37
here in 1831 full of life full of
01:42
interest and everything that was going
01:43
on around him well he bombarded his
01:47
elders with questions and his favorite
01:49
question was what is the go of that
01:51
thing and if he wasn't satisfied
01:54
what's the particular goal of that Hey
01:57
Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism was
02:01
one of the real intellectual
02:03
achievements of the 19th century and it
02:07
was the first case of a unified theory
02:10
this is the famous paper of 1864 and
02:15
what she says that this velocity which
02:19
is calculated is so nearly that of the
02:26
then thought to be the speed of light
02:28
that it seems we have strong reason to
02:32
conclude that light itself including
02:35
radiant heat and other radiations if any
02:38
is an electromagnetic disturbance in the
02:41
form of waves propagating through the
02:44
electromagnetic field
02:45
according to electromagnetic loss and
02:48
that has been described by
02:51
Fineman who was a professor in America
02:54
as one of the greatest leaps ever made
02:56
in human thought the holy grail of
02:58
physics is to reduce everything to one
03:02
set of equations one unified description
03:05
and Maxwell set the standard and at the
03:11
same time of course it did establish
03:14
understanding of light and it led to
03:17
there were all kind of practical
03:19
implications it's extremely difficult
03:24
for a layman like myself to try and get
03:26
his head around the complexity of these
03:29
world-changing theories that he was
03:31
proposing so to try and understand this
03:34
better I decided to visit Glasgow
03:37
University and discuss Marshalls work
03:41
the Jim Clark works well really is one
03:44
of the biggest figures in the history of
03:46
physics this was acknowledged by people
03:48
knew the less than a stain in fact and
03:50
it's surprising perhaps that Clark
03:53
Maxwell isn't better known among the
03:55
wider public because his contributions
03:57
to physics are really enormous and
03:59
everyone the sound of Einstein the
04:01
probably heard of Newton as well
04:02
the Clark Maxwell is really well up
04:04
there with Einstein and Newton as
04:06
they're really revolutionizing our
04:08
understanding of a lot of things in the
04:10
world of physics so there's there's lots
04:12
of ways in which James Clerk Maxwell has
04:14
as ongoing influence even though in the
04:16
21st century and firstly if you look at
04:19
the area of physics that he worked in
04:21
more in fact he watching a whole bunch
04:22
of videos but the one he's probably best
04:24
known for is an electromagnetism so even
04:28
the very name tells you something about
04:30
what Clark Maxwell did because and one
04:32
of his his biggest achievements was to
04:35
help us understand how two concepts
04:37
electricity and magnetism were connected
04:40
to each other in a room of wonder here
04:43
that's right and we've got some
04:45
electromagnetism demonstrations haha to
04:48
show you the sorts of results that
04:49
Maxwell was trying to explain and
04:53
the proof of some of his predictions
04:55
yeah as well so they're quite minima see
04:58
in front of this year that would have
05:01
been a kind of rudimentary version of s
05:04
available to mark field so what was Mark
05:07
will do Miller seed well so Maxwell was
05:10
interested in trying to understand
05:11
electricity and magnetism so magnetism
05:14
have been known since ancient times you
05:17
have materials that were magnetic that
05:19
attracted other other materials but in
05:22
the early 19th century there was a
05:25
growing realization that electricity and
05:27
magnetism were intimately connected and
05:30
so experimenters like Faraday we're
05:34
doing experiments to magnetize materials
05:37
that otherwise weren't magnets
05:39
temporarily by putting them close to an
05:43
electric current and so that's what
05:45
we've got here and if you flick so we've
05:48
got a material here that's not magnetic
05:51
and but if you flip the switch and put a
05:54
current through the coil then it becomes
05:58
magnetic up until the point where you
06:01
cut the circuit again it's not magnetic
06:04
anymore so that's an electromagnetic and
06:07
related to that you can generate an
06:10
electric current by moving a magnet
06:12
inside it so you can see the current
06:15
being generated here just by moving the
06:19
magnet inside the coil so these were all
06:22
experimental results and what Maxwell
06:25
was trying to do was find the
06:26
mathematical framework to describe them
06:29
a set of equations that would explain
06:31
all the phenomena that had been seen
06:33
from this we are what do we see in the
06:37
world around his nose
06:38
the applications are well so so Maxwell
06:41
put together his his famous equations
06:43
describing electricity medicine and I'm
06:46
the great prediction that came out of
06:47
that and was electromagnetic radiation
06:50
and so this is the sort of equipment
06:53
that was used about 10 years after
06:55
Maxwell's death to demonstrate
06:57
electromagnetic waves so again in here
07:00
we have a big coil like the one that we
07:02
saw over there and when we pass a
07:04
current through it we generated parts
07:07
which are giving off radio waves can
07:10
detect them with the radio over there
07:12
and this these electromagnetic waves
07:15
travel at the speed of light so there's
07:18
a realization that all of these
07:20
phenomena were the same thing he was a
07:22
very broad physicist and and he made
07:26
important contributions to our
07:27
understanding of thermodynamics the
07:29
behavior of gases he developed the first
07:33
color photograph period he experimented
07:38
in this summer when he was between
07:41
academic terms carried out experiments
07:44
on color and he that he had a theory of
07:47
color did this at Glenn layer I believe
07:50
and his wife helped him do these
07:53
experiments and there is a photograph of
07:58
that he took a colored tartan or some
08:04
some something like that that the first
08:07
time that that had been done
08:09
Martin was also a experimenting with
08:12
light this is Sam sort of replicating
08:15
one of his experiments so so what was he
08:19
doing you have been but he was
08:20
investigating what happens when we we
08:22
mix colored lights when you mix colored
08:25
lights the rules are different so when
08:27
you mix colored paints so for example if
08:29
you mix the red paint and the green
08:30
paint in your paint box you tend to get
08:32
a dark brown color but something quite
08:34
different happens when we mix a red and
08:37
green light by overlapping him on there
08:39
and what Maxwell was interested in was
08:41
what are the mathematical rules that
08:43
will tell us what color will get when we
08:45
mix some two other colors or any number
08:48
of other colors so what we know
08:50
nowadays we've got the mixture of red
08:52
and green making yellow we bring blue
08:53
into the mixture if you did this with
08:55
paints you'd end up with a very dark
08:56
dingy color if we add blue in there we
09:00
get white in the middle so this is it's
09:03
got amazing results that we we take
09:05
three colors mix them together and we
09:06
get something it hasn't got any color at
09:08
all Maxwell was able also to create the
09:11
mathematical rules it mean you can
09:12
predict what color you're going to get
09:14
when you mix certain lights and certain
09:15
proportions this marriage of them of
09:19
electricity elate magnetism as that's
09:23
the fourth example of a unified theory
09:25
yes in many ways it was and it was
09:28
already the case that and there was an
09:31
emerging understanding of how
09:33
electricity and magnetism might be
09:35
connected together but not and as
09:37
elegant or a sort of complete a form as
09:40
Maxwell was able to provide so the
09:42
equations that we know referred to as
09:44
Maxwell's equations had separately we'd
09:46
known something about each of them but
09:49
Maxwell was really the person that put
09:50
the pieces together and morover was able
09:52
to establish this connection with the
09:55
speed of light so that's why we talk
09:57
about the electromagnetic spectrum I
09:59
think some of the key leaps forward that
10:01
has been made in science over hundreds
10:03
of years people white Newton and
10:05
Einstein and indeed James Clerk Maxwell
10:08
you've often come about because this key
10:10
individual has been able to look at a
10:12
problem slightly differently which
10:15
brings fresh insight and allows them to
10:18
spot connections between things
10:20
Maxwell's ability despite these
10:22
connections where others hadn't might
10:25
have been something to do with the
10:27
nature and not sure of his upbringing
10:34
when we are here at theatres restored
10:37
this restored to his glory
10:39
very nearly huh as it was haha and Max
10:44
was there something lovely not playful
10:47
that's it would be it would be very
10:49
conducive to to meet me thank you no but
10:52
well you're right I'm having inspiration
10:56
on trunk quality you know yes yeah
10:59
they'd read what Gavin said they he
11:02
famously said them conversation enriches
11:06
the mind but solitude is a school of
11:10
genius you know somebody maybe maybe
11:13
mark for being alone here as an only
11:16
child
11:16
yes living here yeah just been a wooden
11:19
beasts thoughts and that's the Sparta
11:20
Dacia led them to these on the path they
11:24
basically did it really went with great
11:25
discoveries he would have played here
11:30
and they reckon he used to swim in this
11:32
pool aha this fascination with water and
11:35
the fool water and water flowing like
11:38
electricity he just seemed to make this
11:41
well actions main yes yeah and you can
11:45
almost understand why because he was
11:49
surrounded by water on three sides of
11:52
the farm his water
11:54
he's got the earth for a mile down there
11:56
and he's got the layer burn all down
11:58
here like an inspirational view that
12:04
says in there you know I'm standing here
12:07
almost on the exact spot in fact the
12:11
exact spot england Leah house you have
12:15
James Marshall sod and wrote the
12:19
treatise on electromagnetism not late
12:22
that Lee's famous equals yeah yeah
12:25
that's right there's only two of those
12:26
milestones they were presented one to me
12:29
I want to learn University yeah we had a
12:33
big beam feast at bay and there lots of
12:36
professors
12:37
career yeah is there
12:41
I thank great science and creative art
12:44
are flip sides of the same coin the
12:47
inspiration for booth comes from the
12:49
same place science and poetry are
12:52
equally valuable and complimentary views
12:55
of the world
12:57
I suppose one of the most intriguing
13:01
aspects and that marks was the fact that
13:03
the little poetry as well and I write
13:07
poetry and have quite a few books
13:09
published now and it wasn't utterly
13:12
intriguing to find that the Clark
13:15
Maxwell and I had this kind of thing in
13:17
common and it was he was a pretty good
13:22
versa fire I wouldn't see it it's the
13:25
greatest poet of read but it's kinda
13:27
like a novena of of a kind of Wordsworth
13:32
Tennyson Kipling you know neglect
13:35
traditional a Victorian versa files a
13:38
problem in dynamics 19th of February
13:42
1854 an inextensible heavy chain lies on
13:48
a smooth horizontal plane an impulsive
13:51
force as applied at a required the
13:54
initial motion of key let DSB the
13:59
infinitesimal link of which for the
14:02
present with only to think let t be the
14:05
tension and T plus DT the same for the
14:09
end that is nearest to be let a B P and
14:13
I don't think he took ease is poetry too
14:16
seriously like Robert Burns our national
14:19
poet who said you know I am nee poet and
14:24
essayist you know but but just like any
14:27
Rhema and I think Marksville was at was
14:30
a Rhema and you wrote these poems for
14:33
fun it says Afeni we like G embodies
14:37
Peter Pan and away so Clark Marx will
14:42
never grew up
14:43
he always a desk any childish sense a
14:46
wonder about the universe in the world
14:48
of them which is fantastic
14:50
and it's what you need to be able to
14:52
write poetry I think it's one of the
14:54
aspects that any poet hires less a sense
14:58
of wonder about the world from these two
15:00
conditions we get three equations which
15:03
serve to determine the proper relations
15:05
between the first impulse and each
15:07
coefficient and the form for the tension
15:10
and this is sufficient to work out the
15:13
problem and then if you choose you may
15:17
thumb it and twist it the dawn's to
15:21
amuse despite the general public not
15:25
being vastly aware of Marx well he still
15:28
has the ability to inspire others in
15:30
their creative endeavors
15:38
I've always been interested in science
15:40
and music and always been interested as
15:42
was play in the heart because as it's a
15:44
very direct kind of instrument you just
15:46
pluck a standing
15:48
well affixed and string which creates a
15:50
standing wave didn't really know much
15:52
about Maxwell as well as before I moved
15:54
here but then gradually picked up
15:56
various bits about him absolutely and
16:01
picked up that she was into music as
16:03
well I played the guitar and wrote
16:06
little ditties and parama parodies on
16:09
other things and also in a way that he
16:11
was not quite so well-known but had this
16:14
amazing career amazing what he came up
16:16
with but was quite quiet about it in a
16:19
way unassuming and also that he really
16:21
loved his family loved the countryside
16:23
so all of that no he resonated with me
16:25
was heartening a new music start medley
16:28
and
16:29
what what's the story I tried I tried to
16:31
approach it almost well from two ways
16:33
really thinking about sound just pure
16:35
sound like I say there's the standing
16:37
wave and the vibrating string so you're
16:39
always very tactile II aware of the
16:41
instrument on what it's doing but then I
16:44
also love tunes and things that made me
16:47
think about Maxwell like his Scottish
16:49
nurse so there's a traditional side to
16:51
it but also some of the the harm
16:53
harmonies and things I used as well so
16:55
it's all those kind of mixtures and then
16:58
using effects on the harp sort of
17:00
reflects some of his ideas of
17:02
interference patterns and how light
17:05
bounces off things and sound bounces off
17:07
things so that I think has an elegance
17:09
to it which if I understood Maxwell's
17:12
equations I'm sure they have this
17:13
elegance to them but in the music I can
17:15
hear that elegance and that's there the
17:17
last part has a homecoming sort of waltz
17:20
feel because like I say I think he loved
17:22
his home and his family and all that was
17:24
very important to him rooted him very
17:26
much so that's that are there and then a
17:29
final sort of interference pattern again
17:31
of using the same strings but with two
17:34
different hands in a pattern I'm doing
17:36
this because let's think about it and
17:39
that's to do with his use of color I
17:42
think in photography he had the three
17:43
main colors sort of things he's bringing
17:45
in so that's those three colors
17:47
interacting to then resolve into this
17:50
harmonic chord at the end which is a
17:52
root note to third and a fifth which is
17:54
the basis of all sort of harmony that it
17:56
resolves to that music creates
17:59
pictures and images and Arsenal's mind
18:02
and for me you know listening to the
18:05
the music you know I could just shut my
18:07
eyes and imagine sunlight playin and
18:11
water soft if an and their and marks
18:13
will famously and then displayed in the
18:15
stream and point near near the house
18:18
England Lee aeran and I looked through
18:20
and storms and so you can just imagine
18:22
you know that the records in the waves
18:24
harmed and water there and I just lovely
18:27
marriage between no classical Heartland
18:32
and the electronic clothes the jeans is
18:35
created how did that can you manage your
18:39
sounds come about electronic sounds I
18:42
think can can mix with live music really
18:44
really well pre-recorded stuff and live
18:47
stuff so by having these other signs in
18:49
and that can make you hear the harp
18:51
differently I think but also I think
18:53
it's so relevant to Maxwell's ideas
18:57
James is using an ebow and things like
19:00
that
19:00
electromagnetic Bri and vibration coming
19:04
out of that and affecting the streams
19:05
and just all kinds of things that he's
19:08
using of layering of sounds all natural
19:10
sounds layered up so then they becomes
19:12
something very different not what you're
19:14
expecting and again I think that
19:16
reflects a bit about how Maxwell thought
19:18
about his ideas where it came from
19:20
it's all out of your imagination so
19:23
that's really where science comes from
19:24
where everything comes from no I am an
19:31
atheist and the man of my time but James
19:34
Clark Maxwell
19:35
was a man of her stain and a deeply
19:38
committed Christian
19:42
and often you see still visitors I mean
19:44
then visitors that come you know the
19:46
number plates are all the Continental
19:49
number plates that's what you would say
19:51
is very acting I assume this is a profit
19:56
that s Nino in any one country are
19:59
well-off it's very easy we have come
20:03
across instances work when if you say
20:05
Mike's well it's then the guy who
20:09
cheated everybody out of them after
20:12
their pensions
20:14
Robert Robert Moton eyes that's often
20:19
Anita
20:19
yes that's kind of James Clark Maxwell
20:21
it's not yet I mean one bits but I think
20:27
that's but that's what I was kind of
20:28
saying you did so much but it's the way
20:31
of the unifying theory that has such a
20:34
resonance today because of our digital
20:36
technology and the fact that math
20:38
happened in a big leap and a burst and I
20:41
think that's what means the focus is on
20:44
that because that's our modern-day
20:46
miracle that's the thing all of us are
20:48
still going isn't that just amazing
20:51
oh well Feynman says you know the man
20:54
who changed everything but he's quoted
20:56
as saying that if you go for obtained
20:58
thousand years for no you know Marvel's
21:00
Nimal but if they look back to this
21:02
plane
21:03
we'll see the greatest thing that
21:04
happened in the 19th century was it was
21:07
the what can you what a marvel yeah yeah
21:09
because there is is there for all time
21:12
what he was doing was bringing to bear
21:14
and deep theoretical thinking to make
21:18
sense of experimental observations and
21:21
in fact also to make quite startling
21:23
predictions about future experimental
21:25
observations yeah essentially our whole
21:29
non-biological technology owes itself in
21:35
a large in large measure to contribution
21:37
like like natural so the way in which
21:40
science can often lead with a
21:42
theoretical insight which then gives
21:44
fresh direction to experimental work and
21:47
observational work that's a legacy that
21:50
we have from the time of Maxwell and
21:51
Kelvin and we still see that very
21:54
at work today in the discoveries of
21:56
particle physics through the Higgs boson
21:58
or cosmology through the discovery of
22:01
this and light from the video of the
22:03
universe I can see it happening in the
22:06
last 10 20 years that people are
22:09
becoming more and more aware of Maxwell
22:12
particularly here in Scotland perhaps
22:15
professor Ricci is more perceptive than
22:17
he realizes into this and into every
22:29
questions later ahead recipes and
22:33
clockwork types always the same old rich
22:47
let's
22:55
last year I was involved with a friend
22:58
of mine who works for the Open
22:59
University and he also does kind of
23:01
science presentation shows for children
23:02
and he wanted to do a show about the
23:04
science and engineering of Southwest
23:06
Scotland for the Whig tone boot festival
23:08
and he thought it might be nice to have
23:10
some songs in there so we spent a really
23:12
interesting few weeks researching some
23:14
of the leading lights of this region
23:17
behind all this there's this incredible
23:19
Colossus of science there and I had not
23:22
really appreciated his influence before
23:23
we read into this but you know actually
23:26
trying to get maxwell fitted in to
23:28
assure that involved anything other than
23:30
maxwell was was really difficult because
23:32
the scope and breadth of his work is so
23:35
mind-boggling so we really just thought
23:37
we can't really we're gonna have to just
23:39
leave this to the end all right well
23:40
write the song as the big show closer
23:42
and and hopefully focal goal are we
23:45
after this and think I'll like find a
23:47
bit more out about this guy as I say you
23:49
know trying to narrow it down to the the
23:51
key events and his life as a man who
23:54
achieved so much that was a real
23:56
challenge the one about the
23:57
electromagnetic waves the EM then you
24:00
see how does that go he learned the work
24:02
of Faraday which made him wonder whether
24:04
magnetic and electric waves must fly
24:06
through space together and figured since
24:08
they fly along at light speed if you let
24:10
them that light we see as part of the
24:12
electromagnetic spectrum quickly slip
24:16
Vermin spectrum
24:22
that's an academically he's he has spent
24:27
as a kid his whole professional life
24:28
finding out where the different Scots
24:30
tongues from around the country because
24:32
of course there's you know better than
24:33
anyone it's not just one thing but I
24:35
find it most intriguing in the most
24:37
exciting when the people speaking it
24:39
don't have any notion that they're
24:40
speaking in other than the normal
24:42
language they're not thinking I'm going
24:43
to use are Scots word just know they're
24:45
just speaking their language and that's
24:46
it's wonderful to see it as a living
24:48
kind of breathing tongue that's still in
24:50
use and it of course that's the that's
24:53
the language that max all would have
24:54
spoken and that was kind of one of the
24:56
things that made him distinctive when he
24:57
went back up to Edinburgh and was in
24:59
amongst all the posh lads at the academy
25:01
and he was still using very much his
25:03
rural his his local accent and his local
25:06
vocabulary and I think that made him
25:08
stand out amongst the Edinburgh Academy
25:10
labs yeah and I know coffee was debated
25:13
but it it was Daphne Maxwell Daphne
25:16
Maxwell can you imagine hilarious really
25:19
short them but I actually keep you
25:25
through each person sort of give them
25:27
the background about what foot aspect of
25:29
his life each verse was about I think
25:31
they were suitably impressed with their
25:33
the scope of this man's achievements and
25:35
especially as you did earlier you you
25:37
were M telling them how how his
25:39
discoveries have impacted on the world
25:41
that they live in and I think you know
25:43
you can't impress that upon people
25:45
enough that the things that we enjoy
25:47
today didn't just appear out of thin air
25:49
they've come from a long line of
25:51
discoveries and you know small
25:54
implements or smaller augmentations by
25:56
generations but then the occasional
25:58
blazing star like Maxwell and so these
26:01
kids have I think they've taken onboard
26:02
just what an important character this
26:04
man is and a hope that they feel a sense
26:05
of prayed that he's a Scott and you know
26:08
someone who's associated with this
26:09
region as well and can hold his head up
26:11
next to any stain and Newton and anyone
26:13
that you care to mention having no gone
26:17
and this journey of discovery to find
26:19
out who James Clark
26:21
marks will
26:23
I've been utterly astounded by the
26:26
breadth and depth for the mine he is our
26:29
true renaissance mine a true genius a
26:34
man who embraced science the sciences he
26:39
loved music he loved culture heroic
26:41
poetry his legacy for me as the fact
26:45
that he never lost that childlike
26:49
curiosity that sends a wonder that just
26:54
imbued it his whole life constantly
26:57
asking what's the goal for that
27:12
you
27:29
you</p>