Maxwell to join ranks of the great in George Street

Published on Sunday 16 November 2008 20:05

A STATUE honouring one of Scotland's most eminent scientists will take pride of place in Edinburgh city centre later this month.

James Clerk Maxwell, the Edinburgh University graduate whose work inspired the likes of Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton, will become the first new statue to arrive on George Street for almost 100 years.

The leading Scots sculptor Sandy Stoddart, whose statue of philosopher Adam Smith was unveiled in the Royal Mile earlier this year, has created the new 300,000 statue, to be unveiled on 25 November.

Born in 1831 at 14 India Street, Edinburgh, Maxwell was brought up in the city, and then became a student at Edinburgh University at the age of 16. He was the youngest ever member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, being accepted at the age of 14.

He famously pioneered colour photography and through the discovery of electromagnetic waves paved the way for radio television and the mobile phone.