MAXWELL, James Clerk

b. 13 November 1831; d. 5 November 1879

Dr. James Clerk Maxwell was a Scottish physicist who made some far-reaching advances on electromagnetism. He held Professorships in a number of institutions, becoming the first Cavendish Professor of Physics at Cambridge University in 1871.

His contribution in photography was in his studies of colour. Lecturing at the Royal Institution in London (May 1861) he was the first to demonstrate that by taking three pictures, each through a primary colour filter, and projecting the three using corresponding filters, so that they overlapped, colour pictures could be re-created. In working on his colour theories he collaborated with Thomas Sutton. See also http://www.maxwellyear2006.org/