The Man Who Changed Everything

The Life of James Clerk Maxwell
Basil Mahon 2003

The Man Who Changed Everything cover
Cover of The Man Who Changed Everything

Dry and factual Biography of one of the greatest minds of 19th century.

When I read it

September 2021

Why I picked it up

I needed to learn more about this great man, his contribution to our civilisation and his legacy.

Interesting bits

Colors and light

Saturn

Experiments before (alongside) theory

Electricity, Magnetism and Light

Maxwell’s equations

Cavendish LAboratory in Cambridge

Quotes

One scientific epoch ended and another one began with James Clerk Maxwell (Albert Einstein)

Inspiration & Next

Dawkins’s “The Blind Watchmaker” is a natural follow up (maybe should have read before this - anyway, bumped up in TBR list). Dennet seems to pontificate and higly admire Dawkins.

Other titles referenced in the book and TBR’ed:

Prisoner’s Dilemma: John Von Neumann, Game Theory, and the Puzzle of the Bomb - William Poundstone

The Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge - William Poundstone

Dennett’s book on consciousness (Consciousness Explained).

Dennett is one of my new heroes.

AI and Mind