---
product_id: 59114050
title: "The Man Who Changed Everything: The Life of James Clerk Maxwell"
price: "€ 39.51"
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# Electromagnetic theory focus First color photograph insights Comprehensive biography The Man Who Changed Everything: The Life of James Clerk Maxwell

**Price:** € 39.51
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## Summary

> ⚡ The Man Who Changed Everything — Where Science Meets Storytelling

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- **What is this?** The Man Who Changed Everything: The Life of James Clerk Maxwell
- **How much does it cost?** € 39.51 with free shipping
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## Key Features

- • **Masterclass in Clarity and Complexity:** Mahon’s writing makes sophisticated physics and mathematics accessible and compelling for the curious professional.
- • **Unlock the Genius Behind Modern Physics:** Explore Maxwell’s groundbreaking electromagnetic field theory that reshaped science forever.
- • **Experience the Birth of Color Photography:** Discover how Maxwell pioneered the world’s first color photograph, blending art and science.
- • **Join the Elite Circle of Science Enthusiasts:** Be part of the informed few who truly understand the legacy of the man Einstein hailed as epoch-defining.
- • **Dive Deep into the Life of a Scientific Legend:** Chronological journey through Maxwell’s personal and academic milestones, revealing the man behind the math.

## Overview

This compelling biography by Basil Mahon chronicles the life and monumental achievements of James Clerk Maxwell, the 19th-century physicist who unified electricity, magnetism, and light into the electromagnetic field theory. Beyond his scientific genius, the book reveals Maxwell’s personal journey, friendships, and pioneering contributions to color photography, statistical mechanics, and engineering. Highly rated and praised for its clarity, this book is essential for professionals eager to grasp the roots of modern physics and the man who transformed it.

## Description

Buy The Man Who Changed Everything: The Life of James Clerk Maxwell 1 by Mahon, Basil (ISBN: 9780470861714) from desertcart's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

Review: Superb biography and history of science - This book describes the life & achievements of James Clerk Maxwell, the man who first identified the relationship between electricity, magnetism & light. He was the first to demonstrate mathematically that electricity, magnetism and light are all manifestations of the same phenomenon; the electromagnetic field - with electromagnetic waves. This is regarded by many as one of the greatest scientific achievements of all time; ranking him with Newton, Faraday & Einstein. Mahon's book is extremely well written and is at times hard to put down; this despite his explanations of some very sophisticated physics & mathematics, which he achieves with clarity. Maxwell's life, personality, relationships and achievements are described chronologically; schooling in Scotland, university education in Edinburgh & Cambridge and academic posts beginning and ending at Cambridge. He was a lifelong friend of both William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) and P G Tait; the three regularly exchanging ideas. Maxwell was a gentle caring and religious man with a mischievous though never cruel sense of humour. Although the author devotes a good deal of his text to describing these endearing aspects of Maxwell's life, it is his enormous scientific and engineering achievements which shine through. In addition to his achievements in electromagnetism, Maxwell proposed the first ever statistical law in physics; that is the Maxwell distribution of molecular velocities, the first & perhaps the most inspired step towards the development of statistical thermodynamics and the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution or molecular energies, which is so important in understanding for example the relationship between temperature and vapour pressure. This alone, without his electromagnetic theory, would be sufficient to mark him as `an all time great' of science. However, there was much more! James also determined the conditions under which Saturn's rings would be stable which won him Cambridge's Adams Prize and the accolade from the Astronomer Royal that his work was one of the most remarkable applications of mathematics to physics that he had ever seen. Maxwell demonstrated the principle by which we see colours and took the world's first colour photograph; he wrote a paper which became the basis of modern control theory; he used polarized light to reveal strain patterns in structure and invented a powerful graphical method for calculating the forces in any framework, techniques which became standard engineering practice. Perhaps most importantly, with the development of his theories on for example electromagnetic fields, perception of colour and statistical mechanics, Maxwell started a revolution in the way physicists look at the world. He began to think that the objects and forces that we see are only our limited perception of an underlying truth that we cannot understand but can describe mathematically. Our author claims that `It is sometimes said, with no more than slight overstatement that if you trace every line of modern physical research to its starting point you come back to Maxwell'. CA Coulson said of Maxwell, that `there is scarcely a single topic that he touched upon which he did not change almost beyond recognition.' Albert Einstein said `one scientific epoch ended and another began with James Clerk Maxwell'. James Clerk Maxwell really was `The man who changed everything'; at least in physics. Mahon's book is first rate as a biography, as a history of science and as a compelling read: five stars of course.
Review: Good read about one of the greatest scientists that ever lived - Maxwell is probably the greatest scientist of the 19th century, yet few of heard of him as they have of Newton and Einstein. Perhaps that's because he wasn't much of a braggard, or perhaps because he lived a short life, but his life and achievements are well worth knowing. He was brilliant and kind, humane and of vast abilities and creativity. The author digs as deep as he can--there isn't a lot of input data--it is a short but well done review. The author does an excellent job of describing the science in terms the aquainted reader can understand, and he works hard to give the softer side of Maxwell's life, but I found the poems took up too much space and added too little value. If you can explain the science in the notes, the fuller poems could probably go there, too. All around, an excellent work on the most worthy subject.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| ASIN  | 0470861711 |
| Best Sellers Rank | 39,594 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) 92 in Scientist Biographies 106 in History of Science (Books) 226 in Popular Science Physics |
| Customer reviews | 4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars (496) |
| Dimensions  | 13.72 x 2.03 x 21.34 cm |
| Edition  | 1st |
| ISBN-10  | 9780470861714 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0470861714 |
| Item weight  | 1.05 kg |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 256 pages |
| Publication date  | 13 Aug. 2004 |
| Publisher  | Wiley |

## Images

![The Man Who Changed Everything: The Life of James Clerk Maxwell - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71Cr54X6TQL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Superb biography and history of science
*by T***D on 24 August 2011*

This book describes the life & achievements of James Clerk Maxwell, the man who first identified the relationship between electricity, magnetism & light. He was the first to demonstrate mathematically that electricity, magnetism and light are all manifestations of the same phenomenon; the electromagnetic field - with electromagnetic waves. This is regarded by many as one of the greatest scientific achievements of all time; ranking him with Newton, Faraday & Einstein. Mahon's book is extremely well written and is at times hard to put down; this despite his explanations of some very sophisticated physics & mathematics, which he achieves with clarity. Maxwell's life, personality, relationships and achievements are described chronologically; schooling in Scotland, university education in Edinburgh & Cambridge and academic posts beginning and ending at Cambridge. He was a lifelong friend of both William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) and P G Tait; the three regularly exchanging ideas. Maxwell was a gentle caring and religious man with a mischievous though never cruel sense of humour. Although the author devotes a good deal of his text to describing these endearing aspects of Maxwell's life, it is his enormous scientific and engineering achievements which shine through. In addition to his achievements in electromagnetism, Maxwell proposed the first ever statistical law in physics; that is the Maxwell distribution of molecular velocities, the first & perhaps the most inspired step towards the development of statistical thermodynamics and the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution or molecular energies, which is so important in understanding for example the relationship between temperature and vapour pressure. This alone, without his electromagnetic theory, would be sufficient to mark him as `an all time great' of science. However, there was much more! James also determined the conditions under which Saturn's rings would be stable which won him Cambridge's Adams Prize and the accolade from the Astronomer Royal that his work was one of the most remarkable applications of mathematics to physics that he had ever seen. Maxwell demonstrated the principle by which we see colours and took the world's first colour photograph; he wrote a paper which became the basis of modern control theory; he used polarized light to reveal strain patterns in structure and invented a powerful graphical method for calculating the forces in any framework, techniques which became standard engineering practice. Perhaps most importantly, with the development of his theories on for example electromagnetic fields, perception of colour and statistical mechanics, Maxwell started a revolution in the way physicists look at the world. He began to think that the objects and forces that we see are only our limited perception of an underlying truth that we cannot understand but can describe mathematically. Our author claims that `It is sometimes said, with no more than slight overstatement that if you trace every line of modern physical research to its starting point you come back to Maxwell'. CA Coulson said of Maxwell, that `there is scarcely a single topic that he touched upon which he did not change almost beyond recognition.' Albert Einstein said `one scientific epoch ended and another began with James Clerk Maxwell'. James Clerk Maxwell really was `The man who changed everything'; at least in physics. Mahon's book is first rate as a biography, as a history of science and as a compelling read: five stars of course.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good read about one of the greatest scientists that ever lived
*by M***S on 2 July 2025*

Maxwell is probably the greatest scientist of the 19th century, yet few of heard of him as they have of Newton and Einstein. Perhaps that's because he wasn't much of a braggard, or perhaps because he lived a short life, but his life and achievements are well worth knowing. He was brilliant and kind, humane and of vast abilities and creativity. The author digs as deep as he can--there isn't a lot of input data--it is a short but well done review. The author does an excellent job of describing the science in terms the aquainted reader can understand, and he works hard to give the softer side of Maxwell's life, but I found the poems took up too much space and added too little value. If you can explain the science in the notes, the fuller poems could probably go there, too. All around, an excellent work on the most worthy subject.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Nice book about a nice man
*by J***E on 20 January 2018*

I have read a number of biographies on Maxwell, starting from that of his school friend Lewis Campbell, which was written very soon after his death, and hence is reticent over some aspects of his life. However, it is one of the.primary sources for all the subsequent ones. Of these, in my opinion, this one is the best for the reader who can appreciate the importance of his work in many areas, without being able to follow the detailed technical arguments. Peter Higgs a while back summed Maxwell up with admirable conciseness: "there were Archimedes, Newton, Maxwell and Einstein". No need to say more about Maxwell's scientific status. However, there is a human story there as well: Maxwell seems to have been one of the nicest people ever to walk this earth, as well as one of the most brilliant. This book gets a good balance for the non-scientific reader (it almost persuaded me that I understood what a "curl" was). It also gives an excellent picture of the other workers at the time in the various fields in which Maxwell worked, and Maxwell's relationships with them.

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*Last updated: 2026-03-11*