List of things named after James Clerk Maxwell

This is a list of things named for James Clerk Maxwell.

Science

• Maxwell–Betti reciprocal work theorem
• Maxwell–Bloch equations
• Maxwell–Huber–Hencky–von Mises theory
• Maxwell coupling
• Maxwell–Cremona correspondence
  • Cremona–Maxwell diagram
• Maxwell's discs
• Maxwell's theorem
• Maxwell's theorem (geometry)
• Maxwell's Wheel
• Maxwell's fisheye lens

Electromagnetism

• Maxwell–Wagner–Sillars polarization
• Maxwell–Wien bridge, see Maxwell bridge
• Maxwell bivector
• Maxwell bridge
• Maxwell coil
• Maxwell displacement current
• Maxwell's equations (electromagnetism)
  • Maxwell–Proca equation
  • Maxwell–Ampère law
• The maxwell (Mx), a compound derived CGS unit measuring magnetic flux^[1]
• Maxwell tensor, also Maxwell stress tensor
• Maxwell–Lodge effect

Thermodynamics and kinetic theory

• Maxwell–Boltzmann statistics
  • Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution (statistical thermodynamics), also known as Maxwellian curve, or Maxwellian for short.
    • Maxwell–Jüttner distribution
• Maxwell–Stefan diffusion
• Maxwell's relations (thermodynamics)
• Maxwell's thermodynamic surface
• Maxwell's demon, a thought experiment in statistical physics
• Maxwell construction
• Maxwell equal area rule, see Maxwell construction
• Maxwell speed distribution
• Maxwell distribution, see Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution

Solid mechanics

• Maxwell material
• Maxwell model of elasticity, see Maxwell material
  • Upper convected Maxwell model
  • Generalized Maxwell model

Astronomy

• 12760 Maxwell, an asteroid
• Maxwell Montes, a mountain range on Venus^[2]
• The Maxwell Gap in the Rings of Saturn^[3]
• Maxwell (crater)

Optics

• Maxwellian view, a method of illuminating the eye by focusing an image at the plane of the pupil.^[4]

Neuroscience

• Maxwell's Spot, a reddish spot seen in the centre of a visual field when a white surface is viewed through a dichroic filter transmitting red and blue lights. In 1856, Maxwell observed a dark spot in the blue region of a prismatic spectrum.^[5] The spot moved with his eye but disappeared upon looking elsewhere in the spectrum. He concluded that the spot is a phenomenon produced in the eye (an entoptic phenomenon) by a localized absorption of blue light by the yellow pigment of the central region of the retina (the macula leutea). Maxwell also proposed that the spot appeared as the cross of fuzzy bow-tie shapes (Haidinger's brushes), one blue, the other yellow, when the light is polarized, discovered by Austrian physicist Wilhelm Karl von Haidinger in 1844.

Prizes

• James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society^[6]
• IEEE/RSE Wolfson James Clerk Maxwell Award^[7]
• Clerk Maxwell Prize, which was awarded by the British Institution of Radio Engineers
• James Clerk Maxwell Medal and Prize of the Institute of Physics^[8]

Others

The James Clerk Maxwell Monument in Edinburgh, by Alexander Stoddart. Commissioned by The Royal Society of Edinburgh; unveiled in 2008.

• The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, the largest submillimetre-wavelength astronomical telescope in the world, with a diameter of 15 metres (49 ft)^[9]
• The James Clerk Maxwell Building of the University of Edinburgh, housing the schools of mathematics, physics and meteorology^[10]
• The James Clerk Maxwell building at the Waterloo campus of King's College London, in commemoration of his time as Professor of Natural Philosophy at King's from 1860 to 1865. The university also has a chair in Physics named after him, and a society for undergraduate physicists.^[11]
• The James Clerk Maxwell Centre of the Edinburgh Academy^[12]
• The Maxwell Centre at the University of Cambridge, dedicated to academia-industry interactions in Physical Sciences and Technology.^[13]
• Maxwell Institute for Mathematical Sciences at the Universities of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt
• James Clerk Maxwell Foundation
• Maxwell Year 2006, website celebrating the 175th anniversary of his birth
• Nvidia Maxwell, a GPU architecture released in 2014.^[14]
• Maxwell (Almighty God). The God mentioned throughout the Tales Of video-game franchise. The Almighty Being in the story is named after him and places him on a pedestal as the Lord of Creation, making appearances in Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Phantasia 2, Tales of Eternia, Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World, Tales of Xillia and Tales of Xillia 2.
• The Maxwell radar-detector in the video-game Crossout.
• A statue on Edinburgh's George Street^[15]
• A proposed sculpture called the Star of Caledonia is to pay tribute to Maxwell.^{[citation needed]}
• ANSYS software for electromagnetic analysis, named Maxwell^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Maxwellian

Footnotes

1. A Dictionary of Scientific Units: Including dimensionless numbers and scales. Springer. 2012-12-06. ISBN 9789400941113. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
2. "The Magellan Venus Explorer's Guide, Chapter 8, What's in a Name?". JPL/NASA. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
3. "PIA09857: Maxwell's Namesake". JPL/NASA. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
4. Leibowitz, Herschel (1954). "The Use and Calibration of the 'Maxwellian View' in Visual Instrumentation". The American Journal of Psychology. 67 (3): 530–532. doi:10.2307/1417947. JSTOR 1417947. PMID 13207449.
5. Maxwell, J. C. (1857). On the unequal sensibility of the Foramen Centrale to light of different colours. In J. P. Gassiot (Ed.), Report of the twenty-sixth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Cheltenham in August 1856: Notices and abstracts of miscellaneous communications to the sections (pp. 12). John Murrary, Albemarle Street. https://archive.org/details/reportofbritisha56brit/page/n553/
6. James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics, accessed 15 Nov 2013.
7. IEEE/RSE Wolfson James Clerk Maxwell Award, accessed 26 Nov 2013.
8. "James Clerk Maxwell Medal and Prize". Institute of Physics. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
9. "The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope" (PDF). James Clerk Maxwell Foundation. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
10. "James Clerk Maxwell Building (JCMB)". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
11. "James Clerk Maxwell". King's College London. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
12. "'Dafty' genius honoured at last by his alma mater". The Scotsman. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
13. "Maxwell Centre". University of Cambridge. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
14. "AnandTech | the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti and GTX 750 Review: Maxwell Makes Its Move". www.anandtech.com. Archived from the original on 18 February 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
15. Rinaldi, Giancarlo (25 November 2008). "The science world's unsung hero?". BBC. Archived from the original on 3 December 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2013.