The world's 3rd most important physicist

This statue by Alexander Stoddart of James Clerk Maxwell (1831-79) was erected at the east end of Edinburgh's George Street in November 2008, and I drive past it every day whilst there are traffic diversions due to the tram works.

Maxwell (originally one of the Clerks of Penicuik, but who added the Maxwell name when he inherited an estate in Galloway) is described as the world's third most important physicist, after Newton and Einstein. Not only did he discover electro-magnetism and explain the nature of light as an energy form, but also also made fundamental advances in maths, astronomy and engineering.

He was educated at Edinburgh and Cambridge Universities. In 1856, aged only 25, he became Professor of Physics at Aberdeen. From there he moved to King's College, London, and then to Cambridge, to become the first Professor of Experimental Physics.

In his biography of Maxwell, Ivan Tolstoy said, "Maxwell's importance in the history of scientific thought is comparable to Einstein's (whom he inspired) and to Newton's (whose influence he curtailed)".