Site of John James Waterston’s house

 History of Physics  No Responses »
Jul 252016
 

Former Waterson's sealing wax factory.46 Pleasance, Edinburgh EH8 9TJ

John James Waterston (1811-83) lived in a house on St John’s Hill, next to the sealing wax factory owned by his family. The house is long since gone, but the factory building still stands. Waterson, a surveyor by profession, wrote a paper on the kinetic theory of gases, which he submitted to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1845. It was rejected by the referee, Sir John William Lubbock, as ‘nothing but nonsense’. Only after Waterston’s death was it  realised that the paper had prefigured the later theory of Rudolf Clausius and James Clerk Maxwell.

John James Waterston (1811–83).

John James Waterston (1811–83).

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Birthplace of James David Forbes

 History of Physics  No Responses »
Jul 252016
 

James David Forbes' house.86 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 3BU

James David Forbes, who was born at this address, pipped his mentor David Brewster to the post of Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh in 1833, much to the disgust of the latter. As Brewster was aware, Forbes’ appointment owed more to political connections rather than to his scientific reputation. Nonetheless, he went on to do important research on the polarisation and refraction of radiant heat. This work revealed the similarity of heat to visible light,  promoting the idea of a continuous spectrum of radiation. He also taught Edinburgh’s most famous physicist, James Clerk Maxwell.

The ground floor of the house is now a shop.

James David Forbes (1809–68).

James David Forbes (1809–68).

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Birthplace of James Clerk Maxwell

 History of Physics, History of Science  1 Response »
Apr 172016
 

14 India Street, Edinburgh EH3 6EZ

Birthplace of James Clerk Maxwell

Now home to a museum of his life and work, this was the childhood home of James Clerk Maxwell, famous for his revolutionary work on electromagnetism and the kinetic theory of gases. Maxwell was born here in 1831. His A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field (1865) demonstrated that both electric and magnetic fields and light travel through space as waves at the speed of light. This work laid the foundations for the invention of the radio. Clerk Maxwell’s was perhaps the most important contribution to theoretical physics between Newton and Einstein.

The house is now owned by the James Clerk Maxwell Foundation and my be visited by appointment.

 

Statue to James Clerk Maxwell by Alexander Stoddart, George Street, Edinburgh, unveiled 2008.

Statue to James Clerk Maxwell by Alexander Stoddart, George Street, Edinburgh, unveiled 2008.

James Clerk Maxwell (1831–79).

James Clerk Maxwell (1831–79).

Plaque at the birthplace of James Clerk Maxwell.

Plaque at the birthplace of James Clerk Maxwell.

 

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