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Prof Jim Al-Khalili explores the birthplace of Scottish mathematician James Clerk Maxwell

The self-taught English scientist Michael Faraday had been experimenting with the recently-discovered link between electricity and magnetism, but although he had a natural feel for how things worked he did not have a good background in mathematics and so could not formulate ways of describing and checking his ideas empirically. That task fell to someone else: a brilliant young Scottish mathematician called James Clerk Maxwell. Professor Jim Al-Khalili explores his birthplace and sees some unique watercolours of his early life by his cousin Jemima Wedderburn.
With thanks to the James Clerk Maxwell Foundation.

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Duration:

3 minutes