Quotessence
Home / Authors / James Clerk Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell

James Clerk Maxwell Quotes

Physicist

Filter quotes by topic

AllScienceMayLawMindMatterIfsBodyMenFormMathematicalTheoryElectricResultsSpaceAccountsDoctrineExperimentsHas BeensLightMaterials

Famous James Clerk Maxwell Quotes

“We shall see that the mathematical treatment of the subject [of electricity] has been greatly developed by writers who express themselves in terms of the 'Two Fluids' theory. Their results, however, have been deduced entirely from data which can be proved by experiment, and which must therefore be true, whether we adopt the theory of two fluids or not. The experimental verification of the mathematical results therefore is no evidence for or against the peculiar doctrines of this theory.”

Has BeensTwoTermResultsSubjectsTheoryEvidenceExperimentsDoctrineBeing TrueDataMathematicalTreatmentPeculiarElectricityFluidVerification
Book:A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism
Create image

“I have been battering away at Saturn, returning to the charge every now and then. I have effected several breaches in the solid ring, and now I am splash into the fluid one, amid a clash of symbols truly astounding. When I reappear it will be in the dusky ring, which is something like the state of the air supposing the siege of Sebastopol conducted from a forest of guns 100 miles one way, and 30,000 miles the other, and the shot never to stop, but go spinning away round a circle, radius 170,000 miles.”

WayHas BeensStatesAirGunShotsRoundsRingsMilesCirclesForestsSymbolsOne WayNow And ThenSpinningFluidClashBreachSupposingSiegeSaturnRadiusBattering
Book:The Scientific Letters and Papers of James Clerk Maxwell: 1846-1862
Create image

“In fact, whenever energy is transmitted from one body to another in time, there must be a medium or substance in which the energy exists after it leaves one body and before it reaches the other ... and if we admit this medium as an hypothesis, I think it ought to occupy a prominent place in our investigations, and that we ought to endeavour to construct a mental representation of all the details of its action, and this has been my constant aim in this treatise.”

IfsThinkingHas BeensFactsBodyActionScienceEnergyOughtAimConstantDetailsMediumsSubstanceInvestigationRepresentationConstructsHypothesisEndeavourProminent
Author:James Clerk Maxwell
Create image