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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Science
Letters

Einstein inspired by James Clerk Maxwell

The Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879).
The Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879). Photograph: Stefano Bianchetti/Corbis

Last Wednesday BBC2 Scotland gave us an excellent hour-long programme on James Clerk Maxwell: The Man Who Changed the World – recognised as the greatest scientist between Newton and Einstein. When Einstein was asked if he stood on the shoulders of Newton, he replied “No, on the shoulders of Maxwell”; he gave Maxwell’s photo pride of place on his study wall (100 years on, is this Einstein’s greatest gift to humanity?, 7 December). BBC2 viewers outside Scotland were treated to the Tottenham MP’s advice surgery. Whether or not the BBC shows Maxwell more widely in future, such programmes surely justify simultaneous transmission throughout Britain. Scottish ignorance of our home-grown genius is sad enough; it’s probably even worse elsewhere.
John Birkett
St Andrews

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