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James Clerk Maxwell
150 years ago this month a young James Clerk Maxwell wrote down the equations that, by bringing together the physics of electricity and magnetism, laid the foundations for modern physics. Four pieces in this week's Nature explore how Maxwell's insight emerged from grappling with the problems of telegraphy and discuss its legacies, from telecommunications and microelectronics to metamaterials and unification.
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The laird of physics
James Clerk Maxwell's 1861 work on electromagnetism, which unified scientific fields, was driven as much by technology as by abstract theorizing, argues Simon Schaffer.
Nature v471 , n7338 ( )
To invisibility and beyond
Combining Maxwell's equations with Einstein's general relativity promises perfect images and cloaking devices, explains Ulf Leonhardt.
Nature v471 , n7338 ( )