James Clerk Maxwell

James Clerk Maxwell

On this date, November 5, in 1879 at the age of 48 James Clerk Maxwell died. He accomplished a great deal in mathematics and mathematical physics in his short life. One of these accomplishments was to provide a unified theory of light, electricity, and magnetism. He produced the first durable color photograph, and his work with light led him to note that any color could be produced by combinations of the primary colors red, green, and blue, which provides the basis for color television.

The first durable color photograph - produced by James Clerk Maxwell

Experimenting with light

I'm posting today to honor him on the date of his death. Looking back, I realize I posted about him at great length previously. This was about 10 years ago on my first trip to Edinbrugh. You can find that post by clicking on this link, which covers his accomplishments, his time in Cambridge, and his friendship with Thompson and Tait. What is new here since that first visit is that I've had opportunity to visit his birthplace  - a house now owned by the James Clerk Maxwell Foundation. I was in Edinburgh on a Doors Open Days weekend, and the foundation had opened the doors to the house. So in this post I'll share pictures of that visit.

Front Door of Maxwell's House

Entry to Maxwell's House

Staircase in Maxwell's House

Inside Maxwell's birthplace, now home to the J. C. Mawell Foundation

The James Clerk Maxwell Foundation did a fabulous job of curating exhibits and creating posters representing Maxwell's life and work. There were papers he had written, exhibits of his work with light, medals he had won, portraits of his friends, and even a bag (small purse) he had designed and stitched when he was a little boy. 

View out a front window of Maxwell's House

I've walked past Maxwell's house many times, but to get to go inside and get the view from inside out instead of outside in was pretty cool. Above is the view out a front window across India Street. Below are views across the back garden.

View through a back window of Maxwell's House

A view through a back window in Maxwell's House

Though it is very difficult to see the subject of this picture, there is a seedling staked up behind a fern and in front of a larger tree in this image. This seedling was grown from seeds taken from Newton's home at Woolsthorpe - from the apple tree that inspired Newton's thinking about gravity.

Again, if you're looking for more about the life and work of James Clerk Maxwell, click on the link give near the top of this post. And let's take a moment to honor his memory today.

St Andrews and John Napier

 

Chapel of St. Salvatore's College, St Andrews University, Scotland

On October 1, 1563, 13-year-old John Napier matriculated to St Andrews University, becoming a student at St. Salvatore's College. St Andrews was a surprising choice for a couple of reasons. First, while Scotland eventually became an intellectual powerhouse, it was not so at this time. For various reasons, the universities were in a particularly bad state, to the point that a petition was sent to Mary, Queen of Scots, to "remedy these evils" of the "imperfect" teaching" that was going on to the "detriment of the whole lieges, their children and posterity." And second, three years prior to his matriculation, John's own uncle, a high-powered political and religious figure, had written his father pleading that John be sent to "France or to Flanders" for his education because "he could learn no good at home" in Scotland.

St. Salvatore's College, St Andrews University, Scotland

St. Salvatore's College, St Andrews University, Scotland

Despite this situation and these concerns, off to St Andrews John Napier went. While there, he developed what was to become a lifelong passionate interest in theology in general and in the Book of Revelation in particular. His student years were a time of religious upheaval amidst the Scottish Reformation. In his later writing, Napier reflects on connections that impacted him religiously during his time at St Andrews. One was a very close friendship with a "gentleman" who was a Roman Catholic. Another was that of sitting under the teaching of Christopher Goodman, a Protestant preacher who had spent time in Geneva with John Knox. Goodman's sermons on the Apocalypse were what especially caused Napier to become enamored of Revelation.

Eventually, in 1611, he wrote a commentary on Revelation. It was influential and well-received (though strongly anti-Catholic). In the preface he wrote: "from henceforth [the time at St Andrews], I determined with myself (by the assistance of God's Spirit) to employ my study and diligence to search out the remaining mysteries of that holy book: as to this hour (praised be the Lord) I have been doing at all times, as conveniently, I might have occasion."

St. Salvatore's Chapel, St Andrews University

Old door in St. Salvatore's Chapel, St Andrews, Scotland

St. Salvatore's Chapel, St Andrews University, Scotland

St. Salvatore's Chapel, St Andrews University, Scotland

St. Salvatore's Chapel, St Andrews University, Scotland

St. Salvatore's Chapel, St. Andrews University, Scotland

Napier's time at St Andrews was short. We know he began on October 1, 1563, but there is no record of him completing a degree there. His mother died on December 20 of that year, not quite three months after he arrived. It seems that after this time he went on to study on the European continent - possibly in France or Flanders - possibly in Geneva or even Italy.

(This next bit is in parentheses because it is "off the record" and simply a statement of my own whimsical imaginings. I can't help but wonder if the reason he went to St Andrews initially rather than to the continent, as his uncle, the Bishop of Orkney, had wished, is that his mother wanted her son to remain close and that John and his father honored that desire. Then after her death, he did go abroad. I have no evidence to support  this idea - other than that the timing suggests this to me - and my own experience of being a mother myself.)

St. Salvatore's Chapel, St Andrews University, Scotland

St. Salvatore's Chapel, St Andrews University, Scotland

St. Salvatore's Chapel, St Andrews, Scotland

Records show that Napier was back in Scotland by 1571, well-educated in the classics and in mathematics, and with a particularly strong background in Greek (a subject not taught in Scotland at the time). His proficiency with Greek was so good that he was able to correct errors in the Vulgate. He went on to become the most mathematically prominent and internationally renowned British scientist of his time through his invention of logarithms, which were said to have so shortened mathematical labors as to have "doubled the life of the astronomer." Johannes Kepler wrote Napier a letter in 1619 with high praise for his invention. Unfortunately, Napier had died two years before the letter was sent.

In conclusion, though we do not know full details of John Napier's university education, we do know that it began at St Andrews, and that however short his time there may have been, it left a lasting impact on his life and work.

Here are a few more pictures taken in St Andrews.

Coastline of St Andrews with its ruined cathedral and castle in the distance

Ruins of the castle of St Andrews

Ruins of the cathedral in St Andrews

Staff Room in the Mathematics Department of St Andrews today

Staff Room in the Mathematics Department of St Andrews today

Napier honored in the Wardlaw Museum of St Andrews University

A very happy mathematical traveler on the pier at St Andrews

Pythagoras and Thales

View from the Isle of Samos looking toward Turkiye

During my travels, I typically focus on mathematicians from the 16th century or the 19th century. This summer I had my first opportunity to walk in the footsteps of ancient mathematicians. 

I was in the eastern Aegean for a writer's conference, and I used that occasion to explore further in this area. I visited Samos, the birthplace of Pythagoras and Miletus. the homeland of Thales. The image above is a view from the Isle of Samos toward the Turkish mainland - a view Pythagoras would have been familiar with. 

The map below marks out Pythagorieo (the city on Samos named in honor of Pythagoras) and Miletus, Turkey, which are only about 20 miles apart as the crow flies.

Map showing proximity of Pythagoreio on Samos and Miletus in Türkiye

Thales and Pythagoras lived more than 2500 years ago, so there is little to nothing tangible left that connects to their time. One thing that does go back to the time of Pythagoras is the Aqueduct of Eupalinos, which was built when he was a young man living on Samos. The aqueduct was built underground in order to keep enemies from being able to find it and cut off the city's water supply. If you visit it today, you can walk through the tunnel just above the aqueduct that was used to maintain it.

The city on Samos now named in honor of Pythagoras, also boasts a sculpture of Pythagoras, which I found very impressive. At first I was so taken by the imposing figure of Pythagoras that I didn't notice all the other features - such as the fact that the shape of the sculpture suggests a right triangle and that the surface of the sculpture is covered in symbols and words that represent concepts associated with Pythagoras.

In the shops and restaurants surrounding the harbor I found more remembrances of Pythagoras, so despite the fact that there isn't anything tangible that can be connected directly to Pythagoras (his house, his grave, etc.), he is certain well-commemorated in his hometown.

After bidding farewell to Samos, I was off to Miletus, but it's not as straightforward to get to as the map might suggest. Despite being only about 20 miles away as the crow flies, my port in Türkiye, Kusadasi, was quite a bit north of where I needed to be.

It's a pretty cool town in it's own right . . .

 . . . but I was eager to get to Miletus. I tour proved a bit hard to secure, as nearby Ephesus has become so popular that tours of Miletus are not offered as often as one might hope - and through most tour companies, not for a single traveler. I supposed with the lesser popularity than Ephesus, it's not as financially feasible for tour operators, but a big plus about it being a lesser-known spot is that I took picture after picture after picture with no other people in sight!

This is the theater of Miletus. I wish I could say that Thales would have seen this or gone to a drama being enacted here, but this was built about 200 years after the life of Thales. Yet somehow I still felt I was at least getting closer to walking in his footsteps.

This struck me as being in a fabulous state of repair, and, again, no people! I visited Ephesus too - was there on this trip (2026) and the previous year as well. Both times, the theater was under construction, so I couldn't enter it. Even if it had been open, there would have been hundreds of people all over it. Here I could get in, I could walk wherever I wanted, and there wasn't another person in sight!

But, I digress . . .

Aside from the theater, nothing much remains of Miletus. This used to be a town of 3 (or 4, depending on how you count it) harbors. The city is now landlocked due to massive deposits of silt from the Meander River. Due to the loss of shipping access and multiple sacks and revolts, the city has been left to ruin.

Despite this trip being so much further removed in time from the eras of the mathematicians I typically seek out, I truly did sense that I had drawn closer to these mathematicians nonetheless, and that by being in the area of the eastern Aegean and walking through these landscapes that I had yet walked in their footsteps.

If nothing else, then certainly, the same moon that shone down on me over the Aegean Sea had shone down on them as well.