Celtic Arrow Media – Film and Audio Production
James Clerk Maxwell
175th anniversary: 13 June 2006
No doubt Maxwell was the UK's greatest scientist. This film gives an in-depth look at Maxwell's life and his achievements in the microwave world: a man ahead of his time by 100 years. Although still relatively unknown, his legacy is all around us today.
This triple pack contains one DVD and two audio CDs with the speeches of Iain McLeod, Basil Mahon, Sir William Hills, Lord Falconer of Thornton, Professor Richard Demarco, Sam Callendar
This special-value triple pack of information brings James Clerk Maxwell into the 21st century.
Order this DVD together with 2 audio CDs today: £14.99
James Clerk Maxwell (1831-79) was one of the most accomplished and outstanding scientists in the world in the 19th century, ranking along with Newton and Einstein and living between the duration of their two lives.
Although born in Edinburgh, he moved to the family home at Glenlair near Corsock in Galloway at the age of two. He returned to Edinburgh to attend school at the Edinburgh Academy, but no matter where he subsequently worked - Aberdeen, London, Cambridge (including the Cavendish which he devised and directed) - he regarded Galloway as his home.
Maxwell is buried in the kirk yard at Parton in Galloway. His short life was rich in outstanding contributions to all branches of physics. Above all he united the theories of electricity and magnetism, thereby establishing the foundations of modern physics, electrical engineering and astronomy and preparing the way for radio communication, mobile phones, television and space flight. In 1861 he produced the world's first ever colour photograph.
He came from a very talented family. Amongst his forebears, his great great grandfather, Sir John Clerk of Penicuik (1676-1755), was a musician and composer of high quality who produced a landmark in Scottish baroque music at the beginning of the 18th century.
13 June 2006 was the 175th anniversary of James Clerk Maxwell's birth and on that day a celebration of his life and work was held at the Baron's Craig Hotel in the village of Rockcliffe on the Solway Coast in Galloway. The celebration included talks by Basil Mahon, Professor Sir Graham Hills and Professor Iain MacLeod, visits to Maxwells' grave at Parton, to Sam Callander's exhibition in the Parton village hall and to the ruins of Glenlair at Corsock under the direction of Captan Duncan Ferguson RN (Retired), a musical recital of Sir John Clerk's music, and a banquet in the hotel's dining room.
This DVD is a record of the celebratory birthday events and a memento of James Clerk Maxwell's life in Galloway.
Also included is the opening of the James Clerk Maxwell Science Centre, on 3 November 2006, at the Edinburgh Academy by Lord Falconer of Thoroton, introduced by Henry Fairweather.
Professor Iain MacLeod 'James Clerk Maxwell and the Democratic Intellect'
"Maxwell's importance in the history of scientific thought is comparable to Einstein's (whom he inspired) and to Newton's (whose influence he curtailed)."
Ivan Tolstoy (Biographer)
Iain MacLeod has worked as a design engineer and consultant in the UK and Canada and in design research with the Portland Cement Association in Illinois, USA. He was Professor of Structural Engineering at the Univerity of Strathclyde in Glasgow for 23 years and Professor and Head of Department at Paisley University. He is a former lecturer at the University of Glasgow and now has an appointment a Emeritus Professor at the University of Strathclyde.
"...my colleague Iain MacLeod, he is as near to a Polymath, as you can get and there he shares that, a bit, with Clerk Maxwell."
Professor Sir Graham Hills
Basil Mahon, author of the book 'The Man who Changed Everything'
"Maxwell's equations have had a greater impact on human history than any ten presidents."
Carl Sagan
A talk by Basil Mahon, discussing Maxwell and why he wrote his well-known book on Maxwell's life, 'The Man who Changed Everything'.
"His influence across all areas of physical science has been enormous and yet so many of his ideas were so ahead of his time that we had to wait many years before others confirmed his theories."