The Long Road to Maxwell's Equations

Should you wish to pay homage to the great physicist James Clerk Maxwell, you wouldn't lack for locales in which to do it. There's a memorial marker in London's Westminster Abbey, not far from Isaac Newton's grave. A magnificent statue was recently installed in Edinburgh, near his birthplace. Or you can pay your respects at his final resting place near Castle Douglas, in southwestern Scotland, a short distance from his beloved ancestral estate. They're fitting monuments to the person who developed the first unified theory of physics, who showed that electricity and magnetism are intimately connected.