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49-531: The James Clerk Maxwell Foundation is a registered Scottish charity set up in 1977. By supporting physics and mathematics, it honors one of the greatest physicists, James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879), and while attempting to increase the public awareness and trust of science. It maintains a small museum in Maxwell's birthplace. This museum is owned by the Foundation. The James Clerk Maxwell Foundation aims to increase

98-463: A colleague of Lord Kelvin. The Conference Room, originally the Drawing Room, which is used for receptions and seminars contains a Latin epigram which can be translated as: "From this house of his birth, his name is now widespread – across the entire terrestrial globe and even to the stars". The major painting here (by Lady Lucinda L. Mackay) is of a near neighbour, Nobel Laureate and Honorary Patron of

147-594: A fellow and lecturer of his college he remained at the University for a further two years, before leaving to take up the professorship of mathematics at Queen's College, Belfast . There he made the acquaintance of Thomas Andrews , whom he joined in researches on the density of ozone and the action of the electric discharge on oxygen and other gases, and by whom he was introduced to Sir William Rowan Hamilton and quaternions . In 1860, Tait succeeded his old master, James D. Forbes , as professor of natural philosophy at

196-449: A magnetic field. Thus the one field (called the electromagnetic field) may appear in different guises. In his famous 1905 'Special Relativity' paper, Albert Einstein showed that Maxwell's equations were invariant under a Lorentz transformation (as opposed to a Galilean transformation) and, inter alia, used this evidence to support his 'relativity theory' that the Lorentz transformation was

245-616: A new house on his Corsock farm and would later name this Glenlair House . The Clerk Maxwell family moved permanently to Glenlair when James was two years old. Maxwell’s mother died when he was only eight years old and, two years later, he returned to Edinburgh to attend school at the Edinburgh Academy . Maxwell studied at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Cambridge and his career followed professorial appointments at Marischal College Aberdeen, King's College London and

294-408: A phased basis, with the first changes taking effect on 1 April 2024. Further changes will be introduced on 1 October 2024, and the final measures will are planned to come into force in summer 2025. Peter Guthrie Tait Peter Guthrie Tait FRSE (28 April 1831 – 4 July 1901) was a Scottish mathematical physicist and early pioneer in thermodynamics . He is best known for

343-400: A short paper on thermodynamics , and from that time his contributions to that and kindred departments of science became frequent and important. In 1871, he emphasised the significance and future importance of the principle of the dissipation of energy ( second law of thermodynamics ). In 1873 he took thermoelectricity for the subject of his discourse as Rede lecturer at Cambridge , and in

392-470: Is a timeline starting with Maxwell’s life and going up to today, where Maxwell’s electromagnetics is central to the performance of cellular mobile phones , GPS and Radar . This room, originally the dining room, contains several family portraits: a copy of James Clerk Maxwell by Lowes Cato Dickinson located in Trinity College, Cambridge; and of Maxwell’s father, John Clerk Maxwell. Early pastels from

441-708: Is based in Dundee . In 1981 the Law Society of Scotland announced support for a register through which all charities in Scotland could record their purposes, financial details, and accounts. Under section 6 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990 , the Lord Advocate was given the power to make inquiries either for general or specific purposes and to obtain various types of information from charities. Following

490-487: Is familiarly called (" T and T' " was the authors' own formula), was planned soon after Lord Kelvin became acquainted with Tait, on the latter's appointment to his professorship in Edinburgh, and it was intended to be an all-comprehensive treatise on physical science, the foundations being laid in kinematics and dynamics , and the structure completed with the properties of matter , heat, light, electricity and magnetism . But

539-579: The Clerk family , Maxwell’s childhood, early life and career, including some of his poetry. There is a reproduction of the William Dyce portrait of James and his mother, from Birmingham art galleries (Dyce was the brother of Maxwell's aunt). The main display here is of watercolours by Maxwell’s cousin Jemima Wedderburn . Jemima later married Hugh Blackburn , Professor of Mathematics at Glasgow University and

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588-662: The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 , OSCR is a "prescribed person" and therefore allowed to accept disclosures from people who carry out paid work for a charity. The Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 28 June 2023, and became an Act on 9 August 2023. This Act makes changes to the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. It will: The measures in this Act are planned to be introduced on

637-511: The Royal Society of Edinburgh (or rather Professor Forbes did as Maxwell, then aged 14, was considered too young!). Maxwell's second scientific paper "The Theory of Rolling Curves" was written at age 17 while at university in Edinburgh. The cabinet displays here 3 of Maxwell's medals: the 1860 Rumford Medal from Royal Society for colour composition, the 1871 Keith Medal from Royal Society of Edinburgh for forces and frames in structures, and

686-790: The Scotland Act and the establishment of both the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government, this power was exercised by the Scottish Ministers. Initially, charity regulation was carried out by the Scottish Charities Office , a department in the Crown Office , but they were only able to investigate a charity on receipt of a complaint or when they had reasonable grounds to suspect problems. The regulatory function

735-474: The 1878 Volta Medal from University of Pavia , when he was awarded an honorary degree. This room (originally John Clerk Maxwell's business office when he practised as an advocate in Edinburgh) contains wall displays celebrating Maxwell’s other major scientific achievements: his work on governors for machine speed control; Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution and his contribution to statistical physics; discovery of

784-482: The Cay’s, his mother’s family, of Maxwell’s uncles, Robert and John , his aunt Jane and Maxwell’s mother Frances Cay. These are by Maxwell’s maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Cay , there is also a portrait in oils, after Sir Henry Raeburn , of Elizabeth’s husband Robert Hodshon Cay by Maxwell's cousin, Isabella Cay (1850–1934). The final portrait is of Maxwell’s lifelong friend and scientific colleague Peter Guthrie Tait who

833-673: The Foundation, Professor Peter Higgs , whose research led to the search, in the Large Hadron Collider , to confirm the existence of the Higgs boson . Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator The Scottish Charity Regulator ( OSCR ; Scottish Gaelic : Oifis Riaghladair Carthannais na h-Alba ) is a non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government with responsibility for

882-739: The University of Cambridge. While in Aberdeen , Maxwell married the College Principal’s daughter Katherine Dewar . The restored entrance hall contains a copy of the bust of Maxwell by Charles d’Orville Pilkington Jackson , the original is located at Marischal College, Aberdeen. The Milestone in Electrical Engineering and Computing plaque by the American Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) commemorates Maxwell’s contributions to electromagnetic theory. Displayed here

931-494: The University of Edinburgh, and occupied the Chair until shortly before his death. The first scientific paper under Tait's name only was published in 1860. His earliest work dealt mainly with mathematical subjects, and especially with quaternions , of which he was the leading exponent after their originator, William Rowan Hamilton . He was the author of two text-books on them—one an Elementary Treatise on Quaternions (1867), written with

980-634: The advice of Hamilton, though not published till after his death, and the other an Introduction to Quaternions (1873), in which he was aided by Philip Kelland (1808–1879), one of his teachers and colleagues at the University of Edinburgh. Quaternions was also one of the themes of his address as president of the mathematical and physical section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1871. Tait also produced original work in mathematical and experimental physics. In 1864, he published

1029-513: The basement and top floor to tenants and maintains on the ground and first floor a modest museum which can be opened for visits by prior appointment. Maxwell’s father, John Clerk Maxwell of Middlebie , had previously inherited land at Corsock in Galloway and he divided his time between Galloway and his 1820s townhouse in Edinburgh’s New Town. In 1830, John Clerk Maxwell commenced building

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1078-537: The fact that a selection only from his papers, published by the Cambridge University Press , fills three large volumes. This mass of work was done in the time he could spare from his professorial teaching in the university. For example, in 1880 he worked on the Four color theorem and proved that it was true if and only if no snarks were planar. In addition, he was the author of a number of books and articles. Of

1127-458: The first definitive list of 18,000 charities operating in Scotland – this information was searchable. OSCR's full regulatory powers came into force on 24 April 2006. In July 2008, OSCR published results of a survey showing some positive attitudes towards the organization from the charity sector and the public. OSCR performs a range of functions which includes: OSCR also has a role to protect whistleblowers from detrimental treatment. Under

1176-482: The form of Saturn's rings ; contributing to the committee that defined the Ohm ; reciprocal figures or frames for the design of structures such roofs and bridges. The final set of wall panels describes the friezes on his Edinburgh statue placing Maxwell’s contributions in context between Newton and Einstein. The library also contains a selection of books on Maxwell, Newton, Lord Kelvin , Michael Faraday etc. The engravings on

1225-469: The form of waves propagated …according the electromagnetic laws” . This was stated by the Nobel Laureate physicist Richard Feynman in 1964 to be the most stunning conclusion of 19th-century theoretical physics! The display cabinet shows a few pages, on loan from The Edinburgh Academy , of Maxwell’s work on oval curves, where Maxwell simplified earlier work of René Descartes . He presented this work to

1274-488: The former, the first, published in 1856, was on the dynamics of a particle; and afterwards there followed a number of concise treatises on thermodynamics , heat, light, properties of matter and dynamics, together with an admirably lucid volume of popular lectures on Recent Advances in Physical Science. With Lord Kelvin, he collaborated in writing the well-known Treatise on Natural Philosophy . "Thomson and Tait", as it

1323-478: The fourth of which contained what was, according to Lord Kelvin , the first proof ever given of the Waterston - Maxwell theorem ( equipartition theorem ) of the average equal partition of energy in a mixture of two gases. About the same time he carried out investigations into impact and its duration. Many other inquiries conducted by him might be mentioned, and some idea may be gained of his scientific activity from

1372-406: The fundamental equations of electrodynamics and Oliver Heaviside developed the notation we use today. The theory behind Maxwell's equations was the first grand unification theory of the forces of Nature as this theory united the electric and magnetic fields. A person who is stationary may experience only an electric field but a person who is in relative motion may experience an electric current and

1421-408: The house has been refurbished to its original standard and a small museum has been developed which features Maxwell’s family, life and scientific advances. These have resulted in Maxwell now being recognised as the most famous scientist in the era between Newton and Einstein. Maxwell was born at 14 India Street on 13 June 1831. This four-floor townhouse has 3–4 rooms on each floor. The Foundation lets

1470-471: The literary partnership ceased in about eighteen years, when only the first portion of the plan had been completed, because each of the members felt he could work to better advantage separately than jointly. The friendship, however, endured for the remaining twenty-three years of Tait's life. Tait collaborated with Balfour Stewart in the Unseen Universe , which was followed by Paradoxical Philosophy . It

1519-494: The mathematical physics textbook Treatise on Natural Philosophy , which he co-wrote with Lord Kelvin , and his early investigations into knot theory . His work on knot theory contributed to the eventual formation of topology as a mathematical discipline. His name is known in graph theory mainly for Tait's conjecture on cubic graphs. He is also one of the namesakes of the Tait–Kneser theorem on osculating circles . Tait

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1568-512: The public awareness of the many scientific advances made by Maxwell over his lifetime and to highlight their importance in the world today. It summarizes Maxwell's many innovative technical advances and displays, in Maxwell’s birthplace, the history of Maxwell's family. The Foundation awards grants and prizes and supports mathematical challenges designed to encourage young students to study as mathematicians, scientists and engineers and become leaders in

1617-461: The regulation of charities in Scotland . OSCR is the independent regulator and registrar for more than 25,000 Scottish charities. OSCR is charged with developing a regulatory framework for Scottish charities, where each charity is clear about its rights and responsibilities. This framework should also foster public confidence in charities. OSCR is directly answerable to the Scottish Parliament . OSCR

1666-436: The same red, green and blue filters, to produce the first colour image of the ‘tartan ribbon’. This production of colour images is still used today in printing, digital cameras, televisions, and computers. The replica of Maxwell’s colour box, which he used to quantitatively analyse and synthesise light colours in order to underpin his observations on colour mixing and colour perception (thereby extending Newton's work on Optics),

1715-580: The same year he presented the first sketch of his well-known thermoelectric diagram before the Royal Society of Edinburgh . Two years later, researches on "Charcoal Vacua" with James Dewar led him to see the true dynamical explanation of the Crookes radiometer in the large mean free path of the molecule of the highly rarefied air. From 1879 to 1888, he engaged in difficult experimental investigations. These began with an inquiry into what corrections were required for thermometers operating at great pressure. This

1764-569: The second terrace down from Princes Street in the burial ground of St John's Episcopal Church, Edinburgh . The Tait conjectures are three conjectures made by Tait in his study of knots. The Tait conjectures involve concepts in knot theory such as alternating knots , chirality , and writhe . All of the Tait conjectures have been solved, the most recent being the Flyping conjecture, proved by Morwen Thistlethwaite and William Menasco in 1991. Tait

1813-400: The speed of electromagnetic waves (as derived from his equations) was also equal to the speed of light as measured by Fizeau and as previously measured in the 17th century by Ole Roemer . In his 1865 paper, Maxwell stated the immortal words “…it seems we have strong reason to conclude that light itself (including radiant heat and other radiations if any) is an electromagnetic disturbance in

1862-420: The staircase walls are from Sir John Herschel's Collection purchased by our founder, Sydney Ross. They sample the history of science and mathematics from Copernicus onwards, arriving at Maxwell’s contemporaries Michael Faraday and Lord Kelvin. The upper exhibition room is the annexe of the original drawing room, and it was in this room that James Clerk Maxwell was born in 1831. It displays material relating to

1911-448: The true transformation of Nature (between the viewpoints of two observers, one moving at a constant speed and direction relative to each other). On display is a replica of part of the balance arm of Maxwell’s apparatus to measure the ratio of electromagnetic to electrostatic units of electrical charge. Maxwell showed mathematically that the numerical value of this ratio was equal to the speed of electromagnetic waves. Maxwell recognised that

1960-451: The world. The James Clerk Maxwell Foundation was formed in 1977 by the late Sydney Ross, Professor of Colloidal chemistry at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York , USA. Ross was born in Scotland and he inherited monies from his late father’s whisky business, Ross, Campbell Ltd. In 1993, the Foundation acquired 14 India Street, Edinburgh, the birthplace of Maxwell. Since 1993,

2009-641: Was a civil engineer . Tait was a lifelong friend of James Clerk Maxwell , and a portrait of Tait by Harrington Mann is held in the James Clerk Maxwell Foundation museum in Edinburgh. There are several portraits of Tait by Sir George Reid . One, painted about 1883, is owned by the National Galleries of Scotland , to which it was given by the artist in 1902. Another portrait was unveiled at Peterhouse, Cambridge in October 1902, paid for by

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2058-549: Was an enthusiastic golfer and, of his seven children, two, Frederick Guthrie Tait (1870–1900) and John Guthrie Tait (1861–1945) went on to become gifted amateur golf champions. He was an all-round sportsman and represented Scotland at international level in rugby union . (In 1891, Tait invoked the Magnus effect to explain the influence of spin on the flight of a golf ball .) His daughter, Edith, married Rev. Harry Reid , who later became Bishop of Edinburgh . Another son, William ,

2107-503: Was born in Dalkeith on 28 April 1831 the only son of Mary Ronaldson and John Tait, secretary to the 5th Duke of Buccleuch . He was educated at Dalkeith Grammar School then Edinburgh Academy , where he began his lifelong friendship with James Clerk Maxwell . He studied mathematics and physics at the University of Edinburgh , and then went to Peterhouse, Cambridge , graduating as senior wrangler and first Smith's prizeman in 1852. As

2156-521: Was for the benefit of thermometers employed by the Challenger expedition for observing deep-sea temperatures, and were extended to include the compressibility of water, glass, and mercury . This work led to the first formulation of the Tait equation , which is widely used to fit liquid density to pressure. Between 1886 and 1892 he published a series of papers on the foundations of the kinetic theory of gases ,

2205-470: Was in his 1875 review of The Unseen Universe , that William James first put forth his Will to Believe Doctrine . Tait's articles include those he wrote for the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica on light, mechanics, quaternions, radiation, and thermodynamics, and the biographical notices of Hamilton and James Clerk Maxwell. He died in Edinburgh on 4 July 1901, aged 70. He is buried in

2254-554: Was married to Margaret Archer Porter (1839–1926), the sister of (1) William Archer Porter , a lawyer and educationist who served as the Principal of Government Arts College, Kumbakonam and tutor and secretary to the Maharaja of Mysore , (2) James Porter (Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge), and (3) Jane Bailie Porter, who married Alexander Crum Brown , the Scottish organic chemist. Tait

2303-572: Was produced in the Cavendish Laboratory , Cambridge University. Maxwell’s most celebrated contribution was in deriving the equations governing electromagnetics ( Maxwell’s equations ). In his 1865 paper, A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field , Maxwell defined electromagnetics in terms of 20 equations, later summarised in his 1873 book Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism . Hendrik Lorentz subsequently reinterpreted these as

2352-745: Was the Professor of Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh University. One of Maxwell’s major technical advances is the first full colour projected image produced at a time when only black-and-white photography was known. The projection of this coloured image on a screen was famously demonstrated in 1861 at Faraday's Royal Institution in London. In this, the foundation of virtually all practical colour processes, he made three black-and-white photographic plates which were photographed through red, green and blue filters respectively. He then used three magic lanterns to superimpose these three black-and-white images, each projected through

2401-582: Was transferred to OSCR in December 2003. It was formerly an executive agency but following the passing of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 it was made independent of ministerial control , and answers directly to the Scottish Parliament . It is the equivalent of the Charity Commission for England and Wales and the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland . In 2005, OSCR published

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