Light
Heading 1
Dimensions: 16” H X 12” W X 1.5” D. Landscape orientation.
Acrylic paint, open-sourced printed materials overlaid with high gloss varnish.
Original Artwork $250 + shipping.
Contact artist for purchase.
James Clerk Maxwell
He was born on June 13, 1831, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Maxwell was educated at the Universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge, then became a professor at Marischal College, King's College in London, and the University of Cambridge, respectively. He was the mathematical physicist who formulated the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which showed that light is alternating electrical and magnetic fields traveling through space as waves moving at the speed of light (while in a vacuum). His four seminal equations, named Maxwell's equations, allowed the unification of the electrical and magnetic forces and laid the foundation for today's computer and electrical technologies, special relativity, and quantum physics. He also made significant contributions to optics, color theory, produced the first stable color photograph, kinetic theory of gases, structural and electrical engineering, and thermodynamics. He died on November 5, 1879, in Cambridge, England. To find out more about the elements used in this collage, please see an explanation below.
Elements of Art
06131831
11051879
A black and white postcard written by Maxwell
The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell
Maxwell's equations
James Clerk Maxwell's signature
Diagram of a solenoid and its magnetic field lines
A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism
Maxwell's triangle of color theory
Photo of a circuit board
Photo of James Clerk Maxwell
Photo of Saturn's rings
300,000 km/s
Electromagnetism
EM Waves
Light
Optics
Physics
Mathematics
Explanations of Elements
06131831=Maxwell was born
11051879=Maxwell died
A black and white postcard written by Maxwell to Peter Tait, who was a Scottish mathematical physicist and early pioneer of thermodynamics.
The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell was published in 1890 in a two-volume series that included 101 scientific papers spanning Maxwell's scientific career.
Maxwell's Equations are coupled partial differential equations that, together with the Lorentz force law, form the foundation of classical electromagnetism, classical optics, and electric circuits. In addition, his equations demonstrate how fluctuating electric and magnetic fields propagate at the speed of light (constant in a vacuum), proving light is this alternating electromagnetic radiation. The final form of these equations was published in "A treatise on Electricity and Magnetism" in 1873.
James Clerk Maxwell's signature was obtained from Wikipedia.
Diagram of a solenoid and its magnetic field lines. The magnetic field created by a seven-loop solenoid (cross-sectional view) is described using field lines. A solenoid converts electrical energy into mechanical work and was invented using Maxwell's equations.
A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism is a two-volume treatise on electromagnetism written by James Clerk Maxwell in 1873. This seminal work provided the mathematical tools for investigating and representing the whole of electromagnetic theory and altered the very framework of both theoretical and experimental physics. The final form of his famous equations was published in this manuscript and successfully unified theories of light and electromagnetism, one of the grand unification of physics.
Maxwell's triangle of color theory showed that red, green, and blue are the three primary components of light, not the primary colors of red, yellow and blue used in color charts. Maxwell's color theory is the basis of television and computer color monitors. He distinguished clearly, for the first time, between hue (spectral color, defined by its wavelength), tint (degree of saturation of color), and shade (intensity if illumination).
Photo of a printed circuit board(PCB). This photo was included to represent the far-reaching influence of Maxwell's unification work and its impact on today's technology. Printed circuit boards mechanically support and connect electrical or electric components using conductive tracks, pads, and other features etched from one or more sheet layers of copper laminated onto and between sheet layers of a non-conductive substrate. PCBs are used in medical imaging systems (CT, CAT, and ultrasound), monitors (heart rate, blood pressure and glucose monitors), internal devices (pacemakers), infusion pumps for insulin and patient-controlled analgesia pumps, LED lighting (residential, computer displays, medical and automotive displays), smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, radios, televisions, home appliances (refrigerators, microwaves, and coffee makers), industrial equipment (power electric drills, solar power cogeneration equipment), automotive equipment (navigational systems, engine management systems, fuel regulators and auto-drive systems), aerospace and maritime applications (communication, autopilot and many other monitoring systems,), safety and security systems (security cameras, smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, motion sensors and burglar alarms,) telecommunications equipment (cell tower receivers and transmitters, phone switching systems, modems, routers and Voice overInternetProtocal (VoIP) devices), military and defense applications (radar jamming systems, missile detection systems and more). This long list is just a small fraction of all the applications of Maxwell's work on electromagnetism and light.
The photo of James Clerk Maxwell was taken by Emilio Segre.
The photo of Saturn's rings was taken by the Cassini spacecraft on January 29, 2008. After over 200 years, scientists were still puzzled over Saturn's rings' composition, many hypothesizing that they were composed of a single solid circular structure or fluid. Maxwell proved that Saturn's rings were made up of small particles he called "brick-bats," each individually orbiting Saturn and that a solid ring could not be stable, while a fluid ring would be forced by wave action at break up into globules. Maxwell was awarded the Adams Prize in 1859 for his essay "On the stability of the motion of Saturn's ring." The photo was taken by the Cassini spacecraft on January 29, 2008. The large black gap between the rings, pictured in the photo, is named the Maxwell Gap in tribute to the research he did on Saturn's rings.
300,000 km/s is the approximate speed of light in a vacuum.
Electromagnetism is a branch of physics involving the study of the electromagnetic force, a type of physical interaction that occurs between electrically charged particles. An electromagnetic field is composed of alternating electric and magnetic fields and is responsible for electromagnetic radiation. It is one of the fundamental forces in nature, together with the strong interaction, the weak interaction, and gravitation.
EM Waves are electromagnetic waves created as a result of vibrations between an electric field and a magnetic field. Electromagnetic waves are composed of oscillating magnetic and electric fields and are perpendicular to the electromagnetic wave's direction. Electromagnetic waves include radio waves, microwaves, infrared, (visible) light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma-rays, from longest wavelength to shortest, respectively.
Light is electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength that travels in a vacuum with a speed of 299,792,458 meters (about 186,000 miles) per second precisely. Radiation with a frequency between 380 and 750 nanometers is called the visible light spectrum and is visible to the human eye.
Optics is the branch of physics that studies light's behavior and properties, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it.
Physics is the branch of science concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy. The subject matter of physics, distinguished from chemistry and biology, includes mechanics, heat, light, and other radiation, sound, electricity, magnetism, and atoms' structure.
Mathematics is the abstract science of number, quantity, and space.
References:
“Electromagnetic Radiation.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_radiation.
“Electromagnetism.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetism.
“An Elementary Treatise on Electricity : Maxwell, James Clerk, 1831-1879 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1 Jan. 1881, archive.org/details/elementarytreati00maxwrich.
“James Clerk Maxwell.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clerk_Maxwell.
“Light.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/light.
“Maxwell James Clerk A5.” Maxwell James Clerk A5 | American Institute of Physics, 21 Feb. 2018, www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/photos/maxwell-james-clerk-a5.
Maxwell, James Clerk, and W. D. Niven. The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
“Maxwell's Namesake.” NASA, NASA, 13 Mar. 2008, solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/13991/maxwells-namesake/.
“Optics.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics.
“Our Dictionaries: Oxford Languages.” Our Dictionaries | Oxford Languages, languages.oup.com/dictionaries/.
“Resources.” EMSG INC, 22 Jan. 2021, emsginc.com/resources/.
“Solenoid.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solenoid.
Taylor, David. “Color Theory and Color Perception.” Physics 103-0 Homepage, 2012, faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~infocom/Ideas/index.html.