Birth of James Clerk Maxwell
Birth of James Clerk Maxwell
Historical biography archive · Updated 2026-11-03
James Clerk Maxwell Biography and Timeline
Follow James Clerk Maxwell through 5 dated historical records for Great Britain.
James Clerk Maxwell, historical timeline
A chronological timeline drawn from matching World History Database records.
5Distinct records
1 of 1Page
1831–1873Years on this page
1831
1862
Speed of Light
Maxwell calculates that the speed of propagation of an electromagnetic field is approximately that of the speed of light
1864
Speed of Light
Publishes "A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field", prposes that light was in fact undulations in the same medium that is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena
1865
Electromagnetic Theory
Publishes equations showing electromagnetic waves can propagate through space.
Role range: 1831-1879
1873
A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism
Publishes, "A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism"
Records, sources and methodology
These dates and descriptions come from the historical_events database. Exact duplicate records have been collapsed. Names are grouped by the country, Name 2 and Name 1 fields; records with missing Name 2 cannot be reliably assigned to an individual biography. Check the underlying sources before formal citation.