James Clerk Maxwell: Scotland's Einstein

I couldnt find this on Iplayer last night...hopefully tonight it will be on.

Tej did you check the radio iplayer?

Oh I see, its a radio show.  I have always found difficulty following radio conversations and podcasts.  My attention wanders very quickly when I have no related visuals (or even just a lecturer) to lock onto.  I'll read up on Maxwell via Andy's link as I didnt know much about him.

its a radio show

No, it was on TV - BBC4 - it's on iPlayer.

The link in my entry above is to some text material on the BBC website going back a few weeks. Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory hero-worships him.

OK, I just watched it, Andy.  Very enjoyable.  Maxwell rules.  I only know him by Maxwell equations, having had to use it during my electronics engineering degree but knew nothing about the man.   Quite a romantic wasnt he.  I love that the statue has Toby sitting at his feet.  I'm imagining them like Tintin and Snowy solving mysteries together 🙂

Why is Maxwell not so well known, though?  Its not anyone's fault, really is it?  I mean there is a statue of him, he is honoured, physicists and mathematicians celebrate him.   Yet, he is not a household name like Newton, Archimedes, Einstein.  I think maybe its because the household name legendary scientists have particular non scientific characteristics/background and made up silly mythologies that boosts their popularity beyond their scientific achievements ingraining more onto the non scientific public's imagination.  Newton with his apple, Archimedes with his bathtub Eureka moment, Einstein's lovable wild professor image etc.  Having said that, Scottish schools should have at least taught children about their local hero, and make up their own myth of Maxwell and Toby solving a particularly interesting electromagnetic crime 🙂

By the way, this program makes a nice lead on to another documentary I watched the other day called The Brain:  What is Reality (I think its the first part of a series).  Though not very astronomy related, it was a pretty good account of how we perceive our own reality.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06y8hyr/the-brain-with-david-eagleman-1-what-is-reality

I have just watched this excellent documentary.  I would argue that the correct thing to say would be that Einstein was the German Maxwell.