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Maxwell wrote his first scientific paper at the age of fourteen. In this paper, he gave the definition of an ellipse and defined curves that had more than two foci. This paper, while not entirely new work, was remarkable for a fourteen year old boy. Maxwell entered Trinity College in 1850 and received his mathematics degree in 1854. In 1855, he wrote his most important paper. In this paper he extended Faraday's theories of electricity and magnetism, combining them in one electromagnetic theory. He developed a few simple equations with which it was possible to express all the behavior of the electric and magnetic force. Maxwell also discovered the composition of Saturn's rings, proving that they could only exist if composed of numerous small solids, and this discovery won him the Adam's Prize in 1857. In 1860, Maxwell was given a chair at King's College, and in 1862 he discovered from his own equations that an electromagnetic field moves at the speed of light, a very important discovery. After this, Maxwell's health slowly began to deteriorate, until he died in 1879. |