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Maxwell Quotes

“I think a strong claim can be made that the process of scientific discovery may be regarded as a form of art. This is best seen in the theoretical aspects of Physical Science. The mathematical theorist builds up on certain assumptions and according to well understood logical rules, step by step, a stately edifice, while his imaginative power brings out clearly the hidden relations between its parts. A well constructed theory is in some respects undoubtedly an artistic production. A fine example is the famous Kinetic Theory of Maxwell. ... The theory of relativity by Einstein, quite apart from any question of its validity, cannot but be regarded as a magnificent work of art.”

ArtScienceTheoryDiscoveryLogicMathematicsMathMagnificentScientific TheoryEinsteinMaxwellAlbert EinsteinTheory Of RelativityJames Clerk MaxwellJames MaxwellKinetic Theory
Author:Ernest Rutherford
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“The velocity of light is one of the most important of the fundamental constants of Nature. Its measurement by Foucault and Fizeau gave as the result a speed greater in air than in water, thus deciding in favor of the undulatory and against the corpuscular theory. Again, the comparison of the electrostatic and the electromagnetic units gives as an experimental result a value remarkably close to the velocity of light–a result which justified Maxwell in concluding that light is the propagation of an electromagnetic disturbance. Finally, the principle of relativity gives the velocity of light a still greater importance, since one of its fundamental postulates is the constancy of this velocity under all possible conditions.”

ImportantLightNatureJustificationNaturalismVelocitySpeed Of LightMaxwellNobel LaureateFoucaultElectromagnetismJames Clerk MaxwellJames MaxwellVelocity Of LightFizeauHippolyte FizeauJean Bernard Léon FoucaultLéon Foucault
Book:Studies in Optics
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“Qu'une goutee de vin tombe dans un verre d'eau; quelle que soit la loi du movement interne du liquide, nous verrons bientôt se colorer d'une teinte rose uniforme et à partir de ce moment on aura beau agiter le vase, le vin et l'eau ne partaîtront plus pouvoir se séparer. Tout cela, Maxwell et Boltzmann l'ont expliqué, mais celui qui l'a vu plus nettement, dans un livre trop peu lu parce qu'il est difficile à lire, c'est Gibbs dans ses principes de la Mécanique Statistique. Let a drop of wine fall into a glass of water; whatever be the law that governs the internal movement of the liquid, we will soon see it tint itself uniformly pink and from that moment on, however we may agitate the vessel, it appears that the wine and water can separate no more. All this, Maxwell and Boltzmann have explained, but the one who saw it in the cleanest way, in a book that is too little read because it is difficult to read, is Gibbs, in his Principles of Statistical Mechanics.”

ScienceMaxwellJames Clerk MaxwellJames MaxwellWillard GibbsGibbsJosiah Willard GibbsJ Willard GibbsJosiah W GibbsJosiah GibbsBoltzmannLudwig BoltzmannLudwig E BoltzmannLudwig Eduard Boltzmann
Book:The Value of Science: Essential Writings of Henri Poincare
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“In despair, I offer your readers their choice of the following definitions of entropy. My authorities are such books and journals as I have by me at the moment. (a) Entropy is that portion of the intrinsic energy of a system which cannot be converted into work by even a perfect heat engine.—Clausius. (b) Entropy is that portion of the intrinsic energy which can be converted into work by a perfect engine.—Maxwell, following Tait. (c) Entropy is that portion of the intrinsic energy which is not converted into work by our imperfect engines.—Swinburne. (d) Entropy (in a volume of gas) is that which remains constant when heat neither enters nor leaves the gas.—W. Robinson. (e) Entropy may be called the ‘thermal weight’, temperature being called the ‘thermal height.’—Ibid. (f) Entropy is one of the factors of heat, temperature being the other.—Engineering. I set up these bald statement as so many Aunt Sallys, for any one to shy at. [Lamenting a list of confused interpretations of the meaning of entropy, being hotly debated in journals at the time.]”

ScienceEntropyDefinitionMaxwellJames Clerk MaxwellJames MaxwellClausiusRudolf ClausiusRudolf Julius Emanuel ClausiusRobinsonPeter Guthrie TaitPeter TaitTait
Author:Sydney Herbert Evershed
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“Nikola Tesla seemed quite normal as a kid. He developed a lot of phobias as an adult. Some were rational, as it was a time of disease, like now. Others were bizarre! He probably would have had a Dementia diagnosis later in life. He died of heart disease at a really old age (died age 81)! He is one of the longest lived scientists of his time. He is the only scientist of the time I am aware of that had studied nutrition and placed himself on a natural foods diet. Hertz (died age 36) and Maxwell (died age 48) did not live anywhere near as long as him.”

ScientistLongevityTeslaNutritionistMaxwellHertzNikolaNatural FoodsNikola TeslaLongest Lived
Author:Steven Magee
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“L'ultime ratio de toutes les structures et performances téléonomiques des êtres vivants est donc enfermée dans les séquences de radicaux des fibres polypeptidiques, 'embryons' de ces démons de Maxwell biologiques que sont les protéines globulaires. En un sens, très réel, c'est à ce niveau d'organisation chimique que gît, s'il y a un, le secret de la vie.Et saurait-on non seulement décrire ces séquences, mais énoncer la loi d'assemblage à laquelle elles obéissent, on pourrait dire que le secret est percé, l'ultima ratio découverte.”

MaxwellProteinsDeepmind
Book:Chance and necessity: an essay on the natural philosophy of modern biology
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“-En mis ojos, fuiste mía desde el momento en el que te vi en el Starbucks con tu amiga. En mi mente, eres mía desde que trabajas en las cocinas y te vi sonreír. En mi cabeza, eres mía desde que probé la nata que tenías en la boca aquel día que te caíste. En mi corazón, eres mía desde que, como una leona, me hiciste el amor en el almacén. Y en mi vida, eres mía desde que hoy te he tenido para mí y me he dado cuenta de que eres mi mujer.”

Chick LitMaxwellSoyEróticaMeganAdivinaQuién
Author:Megan Maxwell
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“Now, since the time of Newton there had been a debate about whether light was a wave - that is, a traveling disturbance in some background medium - or a particle, which travels regardless of the presence of a background medium. The observation of Maxwell that electromagnetic waves must exist and that their speed was identical to that of light ended the debate: light was an electromagnetic wave.”

LightWaveSpeedDebateBackgroundsMediumsObservationParticlesIdenticalNewtonDisturbanceMaxwellElectromagnetic Waves
Author:Lawrence M. Krauss
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“I was appalled to find that the mathematical notation on which I had been raised failed to fill the needs of the courses I was assigned, and I began work on extensions to notation that might serve. In particular, I adopted the matrix algebra used in my thesis work, the systematic use of matrices and higher-dimensional arrays (almost) learned in a course in Tensor Analysis rashly taken in my third year at Queen's, and (eventually) the notion of Operators in the sense introduced by Heaviside in his treatment of Maxwell's equations.”

NeedsYearsUseMightUsedCoursesTakenParticularHigherThirdsRaisedNotionMathematicalQueensAnalysisTreatmentExtensionsEquationsAdoptedSystematicAlgebraThesisOperatorsMaxwell
Author:Kenneth E. Iverson
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“I listen to everything from, you know, Buddha Bar groove music to international music, Italian music, like Eros. I like very sexy, funky music like Maxwell, Angie Stone, R&B...In my CD player, I've probably got Maxwell, Beyonce, Enrique Iglesias, and kid music...maybe some AC/DC. I mean a little bit of everything. It depends on what I'm doing.”

KnowsMeanLittlesKidsBitsPlayerDependsLittle BitStonesInternationalSexyBarsItalianCdsGrooveErosBeyonceFunkyMaxwellCd Players
Author:Brooke Burke
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“From a long view of the history of mankind the most significant event of the nineteenth century will be judged as Maxwell's discovery of the laws of electrodynamics.”

LongLawViewsMankindCenturyEventsDiscoverySignificantJudgedNineteenth CenturyInsignificanceMaxwellSignificant Events
Book:The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. II: The New Millennium Edition: Mainly Electromagnetism and Matter
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“A scientist's life, the author says, is indeed conflictual, formed by battles, defeats, and victories: but the adversary is always and only the unknown, the problem to be solved, the mystery to be clarified. It is never a matter of civil war; even though of different opinions, or of different political leanings, scientists dispute each other, they compete, but they do not battle: they are bound together by a strong alliance, by the common faith "in the validity of Maxwell's or Boltzmann's equations," and by the common acceptance of Darwinism and the molecular structure of DNA.”

DifferentWarMatterProblemTogetherPoliticalStrongCommonOpinionMysteryAcceptanceVictoryBattleScientistStructureBoundsDefeatCivil WarDnaEquationsDisputesAdversariesAlliancesValidityDarwinismDifferent OpinionsMaxwell
Author:Primo Levi
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“If a psychological Maxwell devises a general theory of mind, he may make it possible for a psychological Einstein to follow with a theory that the mental and the physical are really the same. But this could happen only at the end of a process which began with the recognition that the mental is something completely different from the physical world as we have come to know it through a certain highly successful form of detached objective understanding. Only if the uniqueness of the mental is recognized will concepts and theories be devised especially for the purpose of understanding it.”

IfsKnowsWorldMindMayDifferentEndsHappensFormPurposeCertainProcessUnderstandingSuccessfulTheoryConceptsObjectivesPsychologicalRecognitionUniquenessDetachedMaxwell
Book:The View From Nowhere
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“There are... scientific works - star catalogues, for example - which are not art; but the theoretical structures of Gauss, Einstein, or Maxwell are original, individual, "very personal" responses and expressions of exactly the same kind as the creative works of Beethoven or Dostoievski.”

KindArtIndividualStarsCreativeExampleExpressionOriginalsStructureResponseTheoreticalCreative WorkCataloguesMaxwell
Book:The World of Mathematics
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“I venture to give an alternative method of regarding the processes occurring in the electric field, which I have often found useful and which is, from a mathematical point of view, equivalent to Maxwell's Theory.”

GivingFoundProcessViewsFieldsTheoryMethodPoint Of ViewAlternativesMathematicalElectricVentureMaxwell
Book:Notes on Recent Researches in Electricity and Magnetism: Intended as a Sequel to Professor Clerk-Maxwell's Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism
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“Leadership belongs to all of us. I'm a big believer in John Maxwell, a leadership speaker and author, who talks about the 360-degree leader. Before leading others, you have to learn to lead yourself. Wherever you work in an organization you have to learn to lead up, lead down, and lead side to side. Leadership belongs to all of us. You have to see yourself, and believe in yourself in the way that we are talking about here to give to those that you lead.”

GivingBelieveLeaderBelieverBelieve In YourselfSpeakersBelieve In YouMaxwell
Author:Don Yaeger
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“Do you remember that old TV series, Get Smart? Do you remember at the beginning where Maxwell Smart is walking down the secret corridor and there are all of those doors that open sideways, and upside down and gateways and stuff? I think that everyone keeps a whole bunch of doors just like this between themselves and the world. But when you're in love, all of your doors are open, and all of their doors are open. And you roller-skate down your halls together.”

ThinkingWorldWholeTogetherRememberStuffSecretDoorsTvsWalkingSmartDown AndSeriesBunchHallsUpside DownSkatesCorridorsGatewaysSidewaysTv SeriesMaxwell
Author:Douglas Coupland
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“From a long view of the history of mankind, seen from, say, ten thousand years from now, there can be little doubt that the most significant event of the 19th century will be judged as Maxwell's discovery of the laws of electrodynamics. The American Civil War will pale into provincial insignificance in comparison with this important scientific event of the same decade.”

YearsLittlesLongImportantWarLawViewsDoubtMankindCenturyEventsThousandTenDiscoveryDecadesSignificantCivil WarComparisonJudgedPaleThousand Years19th CenturyAmerican Civil WarInsignificanceMaxwellSignificant Events
Book:The Quotable Feynman
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“The rigid electron is in my view a monster in relation to Maxwell's equations, whose innermost harmony is the principle of relativity... the rigid electron is no working hypothesis, but a working hindrance. Approaching Maxwell's equations with the concept of the rigid electron seems to me the same thing as going to a concert with your ears stopped up with cotton wool. We must admire the courage and the power of the school of the rigid electron which leaps across the widest mathematical hurdles with fabulous hypotheses, with the hope to land safely over there on experimental-physical ground.”

SeemsSchoolScienceViewsPrinciplesLandConceptsEarsRelationHarmonyMonstersExperimentsAdmireMathematicalLeapConcertsFabulousHypothesisEquationsRelativityCottonHindranceHurdleElectronsWoolMaxwell
Author:Hermann Minkowski
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“If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's equations - then so much the worse for Maxwell's equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation - well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation.”

IfsGivingWellsI CanSometimesLawScienceUniverseHopeFoundTheoryErrorsPhysicsObservationPetCollapseMathematicianHumiliationEquationsPhysicistDisagreementNo HopeEntropyLaws Of PhysicsContradictingThermodynamicsScience PhysicsMaxwell
Author:Arthur Eddington
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“Who ... is not familiar with Maxwell's memoirs on his dynamical theory of gases? ... from one side enter the equations of state; from the other side, the equations of motion in a central field. Ever higher soars the chaos of formulae. Suddenly we hear, as from kettle drums, the four beats 'put n=5.' The evil spirit v vanishes; and ... that which had seemed insuperable has been overcome as if by a stroke of magic ... One result after another follows in quick succession till at last ... we arrive at the conditions for thermal equilibrium together with expressions for the transport coefficients.”

IfsHas BeensStatesTogetherLastsScienceSpiritEvilSidesResultsFourMagicConditionsFieldsExpressionTheoryHigherBeatsOvercomingChaosMemoirFamiliarStrokesSoarEquationsSuccessionTransportEquilibriumKettlesEvil SpiritsMaxwellThermal
Author:Ludwig Boltzmann
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“Tell me it's never been done. Because the only real laws in this world-the only things we really know-are the two postulates of relativity, the three laws of Newton, the four laws of thermodynamics, and Maxwell's equation-no, scratch that, the only things we really know are Maxwell's equations, the three laws of Newton, the two postulates of relativity, and the periodic table. That's all we know that's true. All the rest are man's laws”

KnowsMenWorldTwoRealDoneLawThreeFourThis WorldTablesEquationsScratchesNewtonRelativityThermodynamicsMaxwellPeriodic Table
Author:Dean Kamen
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“A. E. Maxwell wrote one of the smartest, most consistent PI series in recent memory. Big plots, great villains, and a kickass private eye with plenty of humanity. The toughness of Robert B. Parker's early Spenser novels blended with the wry humor and scope of Ross Thomas. Wholly original, endlessly entertaining. The books of A. E. Maxwell are a forgotten treasure.”

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Author:Tim Maleeny
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“Our challenge is to unselfishly sacrifice all that we have been given, including our will. Elder Neal A. Maxwell rightly said: “The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we ‘give’ … are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us.”

GivingHas BeensSaidGivenChallengesSacrificeIncludingSubmissionEldersAltarsPersonal ThingsMaxwell
Author:Robert K. Dellenbach
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