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作者：
J. Howard
詹姆斯·克拉克麦克斯韦与其说是以太中的恶魔，不如说是地下提款中的小鬼。的确，他的恶作剧活动如此破坏经典物理学，以至于将其变成废墟，但这是在他去世30年后。不管是恶魔还是小鬼，麦克斯韦在高盛的传记中仍然是一个无足轻重的人物。麦克斯韦的生平事实已被其他学者证实。他的父亲把他婚姻生活的大部分时间都花在了发展和改善加洛韦的格伦莱尔家族庄园上。詹姆斯是这段婚姻中唯一幸存的孩子，他的母亲一直在教育他，直到他八岁时去世。他的父亲继续上学最初有詹姆斯协助他与他的改善计划，后来聘请了一位导师。导师是一个灾难，并在10岁时，詹姆斯被送往生活与他的姑姑，使他能够参加爱丁堡学院。在那里，他结识了两个终身的朋友，刘易斯坎贝尔和彼得古特里泰特，并获得了绰号”达夫”。经过六年的学习古典文学在学院，麦克斯韦进入爱丁堡大学。他在那里呆了三年（也许是为了接近他的父亲），学习数学根据菲利普凯兰，哲学根据威廉汉密尔顿（而不是爱尔兰数学家）和自然哲学根据詹姆斯福布斯。然后去剑桥参加”公共服务”考试，数学荣誉学位。他是第二次在荣誉罗斯，但平等的第一次与他在非正式的物理考试，史密斯奖。经过剑桥，麦克斯韦的职业生涯是壮观的只有他的早逝。他花了两年的学者，然后研究员的Trinity学院，四年的自然哲学教授在马歇尔学院，阿伯丁，五年在国王学院，伦敦，然后六年退休在Glenlair（完成他父亲的计划大大减少规模）。他未能在申请成为主要的圣安德鲁斯在1868年和第三选择直接新的卡文迪什实验室在剑桥。然而，两个首选的候选人（开尔文和亥姆霍兹）拒绝和麦克斯韦被任命为卡文迪什教授的实验物理于1871年。八年后死于胃癌。
JAMES Clerk Maxwell was more an imp in the underdrawings than a demon in the aether. True, his mischievous activity so undermined classical physics as to bring it to ruins, but that was not until 30 years after his death. Demon or imp, Maxwell remains an insubstantial figure behind the pages of Goldman's biography. The facts of Maxwell's life have been established by other scholars. His father devoted most of his married life to developing and improving the family estate, Glenlair in Galloway. James, the only surviving child of the marriage, was educated by his mother until, when he was eight, she died. His father continued the schooling initially by having James assist him with his improvement schemes and later by employing a tutor. The tutor was a disaster and, at the age of ten, James was sent to live with his aunts so that he could attend the Edinburgh Academy. There he made two lifelong friends, Lewis Campbell and Peter Guthrie Tait, and gained the nickname" Dafty".After six years of learning classics at the Academy, Maxwell entered Edinburgh University. He remained there for three years (perhaps to stay near his father), studying mathematics under Phillip Kelland, philosophy under William Hamilton (not the Irish mathematician) and natural philosophy under James Forbes. Then on to Cambridge and the" Public Service" examination, the maths tripos. He was second in the tripos to Routh but equal first with him in the unofficial physics examination, the Smith's prize. After Cambridge, Maxwell's career was spectacular only by his early death. He spent two years as Scholar and then Fellow of Trinity College, four years as Professor of Natural Philosophy at Marischal College, Aberdeen, five years at King's College, London, and then six years retirement at Glenlair (completing his father's schemes on a considerably reduced scale). He failed in an application to become Principal of St Andrews in 1868 and was third choice to direct the new Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge. However, the two preferred candidates (Kelvin and Helmholtz) declined and Maxwell was appointed Cavendish Professor of Experimental Physics in 1871. He died of stomach cancer eight years later.