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James Clerk Maxwell

James Clerk Maxwell

James Clerk Maxwell (June 13, 1831–November 5, 1879) was a Scottish mathematical physicist, born in Edinburgh. Maxwell developed a set of equations expressing the basic laws of electricity and magnetism as well as the Maxwell distribution in the kinetic theory of gases. He was the last representative of a younger branch of the well-known Scottish family of Clerk of Penicuik. Maxwell had perhaps the finest mathematical mind of any theoretical physicist of his time. Maxwell is widely regarded as the nineteenth century scientist who had the greatest influence on twentieth century physics, making contributions to the fundamental models of nature. In 1931, on the centennial anniversary of Maxwell's birthday, Einstein described Maxwell's work as the "most profound and the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton." Algebraic mathematics with elements of geometry are a feature of much of Maxwell's work. Maxwell demonstrated that electric and magnetic forces are two complementary aspects of electromagnetism. He showed that electric and magnetic fields travel through space, in the form of waves, at a constant velocity of 3.0 × 10⁸ m/s. He also proposed that light was a form of electromagnetic radiation. The scientific compound derived CGS unit measuring magnetic flux (commonly abbreviated as f), the maxwell (Mx), is named in his honour. A mountain range on Venus, Maxwell Montes, is named after him. It is the only feature on Venus that is named for a male (the general rule is that features on Venus are given female names). The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope is also named after him. It is the largest sub-mm astronomical telescope in the world, with a diameter of 15 metres.

Biography

Early years

Maxwell was born at 14 India Street, Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the only child of Edinburgh lawyer John Clerk. Maxwell's early education was provided by his Christian mother and included studying the Bible. Most of his early childhood was spent at the family estate Glenlair near Dumfries. Maxwell's mother died when he was just eight years old. Maxwell then went to Edinburgh Academy in his youth. His school nickname was "Dafty", earned when he arrived for his first day of school wearing home-made shoes. In 1845, at the age of 14, Maxwell wrote a paper describing mechanical means of drawing mathematical curves with a piece of string.

Middle years

1845 In 1847, Maxwell attended Edinburgh University studying natural philosophy, moral philosophy, and mental philosophy. At Edinburgh, he studied under Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet. In his eighteenth year, while still a student in Edinburgh, he contributed two papers to the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh — one of which, On the Equilibrium of Elastic Solids, laid the foundation of one of the most singular discoveries of his later life, the temporary double refraction produced in viscous liquids by shear stress. In 1850, Maxwell left for Cambridge University and initially attended Peterhouse, but eventually left for Trinity College where he believed it was easier to obtain a fellowship. At Trinity, he was elected to a secret society known as the Cambridge Apostles. In November 1851, Maxwell studied under the tutor William Hopkins (nicknamed the "wrangler maker"). A considerable part of the translation of his electromagnetism equations was accomplished during Maxwell's career as an undergraduate in Trinity. In 1854, Maxwell graduated with a degree as second wrangler in mathematics from Trinity (scoring second-highest in the mathematics exam) and was declared equal with the senior wrangler of his year in the higher ordeal of the Smith's prize examination. For more than half of his relatively short life he held a prominent position in the foremost rank of scientists, usually as a college professor. Immediately after taking his degree, he read to the Cambridge Philosophical Society a novel memoir, On the Transformation of Surfaces by Bending. This is one of the few purely mathematical papers he published, and it exhibited at once to experts the full genius of its author. About the same time his elaborate memoir, On Faraday's Lines of Force appeared, in which he gave the first indication of some of the electrical investigations which culminated in the greatest work of his life. From 1855 to 1872, he published at intervals a series of valuable investigations connected with the Perception of Colour and Colour-Blindness, for the earlier of which he received the Rumford medal from the Royal Society in 1860. The instruments which he devised for these investigations were simple and convenient. In 1856, Maxwell was appointed to the chair of Natural Philosophy in Marischal College, Aberdeen, which he held until the fusion of the two colleges there in 1860. In 1859 he won the Adams prize in Cambridge for an original essay, On the Stability of Saturn's Rings, in which he concluded the rings could not be completely solid or fluid. Maxwell demonstrated stability could ensue only if the rings consisted of numerous small solid particles. He also mathematically disproved the nebular hypothesis (which stated that solar system formed through the progressive condensation of a purely gaseous nebula), forcing the theory to account for additional portions of small solid particles. In 1860, he was a professor at King's College London. In 1861, Maxwell was elected to the Royal Society. He researched elastic solids and pure geometry during this time.

Kinetic theory

One of Maxwell's greatest investigations was on the kinetic theory of gases. Originating with Daniel Bernoulli, this theory was advanced by the successive labours of John Herapath, John James Waterston, James Joule, and particularly Rudolf Clausius, to such an extent as to put its general accuracy beyond a doubt; but it received enormous development from Maxwell, who in this field appeared as an experimenter (on the laws of gaseous friction) as well as a mathematician. In 1865, Maxwell moved to the estate he inherited from his father in Glenlair, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. In 1868 he resigned his Chair of Physics and Astronomy at King's College, London. In 1866, he statistically formulated, independently of Ludwig Boltzmann, the Maxwell-Boltzmann kinetic theory of gases. His formula, called the Maxwell distribution, gives the fraction of gas molecules moving at a specified velocity at any given temperature. In the kinetic theory, temperatures and heat involve only molecular movement. This approach generalized the previous laws of thermodynamics, explaining the observations and experiments in a better way. Maxwell's work on thermodynamics led him to devise the thought experiment that came to be known as Maxwell's demon.

Electromagnetism

Maxwell's demon Maxwell's demon The greatest work of Maxwell's life was devoted to electricity. Maxwell's most important contribution was the extension and mathematical formulation of earlier work on electricity and magnetism by Michael Faraday, André-Marie Ampère, and others into a linked set of differential equations (originally, 20 equations in 20 variables, later re-expressed in quaternion and vector-based notations). These equations, which are now collectively known as Maxwell's equations (or occasionally, "Maxwell's Wonderful Equations"), were first presented to the Royal Society in 1864, and together describe the behaviour of both the electric and magnetic fields, as well as their interactions with matter. Furthermore, Maxwell showed that the equations predict waves of oscillating electric and magnetic fields that travel through empty space at a speed that could be predicted from simple electrical experiments—using the data available at the time, Maxwell obtained a velocity of 310,740,000 m/s. Maxwell (1865) wrote: :This velocity is so nearly that of light, that it seems we have strong reason to conclude that light itself (including radiant heat, and other radiations if any) is an electromagnetic disturbance in the form of waves propagated through the electromagnetic field according to electromagnetic laws. Maxwell proved correct, and his quantitative connection between light and electromagnetism is considered one of the great triumphs of 19th century physics. At that time, Maxwell believed that the propagation of light required a medium for the waves, dubbed the luminiferous aether. Over time, the existence of such a medium, permeating all space and yet apparently undetectable by mechanical means, proved more and more difficult to reconcile with experiments such as the Michelson-Morley experiment. Moreover, it seemed to require an absolute frame of reference in which the equations were valid, with the distasteful result that the equations changed form for a moving observer. These difficulties inspired Einstein to formulate the theory of special relativity, and in the process Einstein abandoned the requirement of a luminiferous aether.

Later years and afterwards

special relativity Maxwell also made contributions to the area of optics and colour vision, being credited with the discovery that colour photographs could be formed using red, green, and blue filters. He had the photographer Thomas Sutton photograph a tartan ribbon three times, each time with a different colour filter over the lens. The three images were developed and then projected onto a screen with three different projectors, each equipped with the same colour filter used to take its image. When brought into focus, the three images formed a full colour image. The resulting image's colours were somewhat unnatural, because the filters passed invisible wavelengths of light, but the principle was sound. The three photographic plates now reside in a small museum at 14 India Street, Edinburgh, the house where Maxwell was born. Maxwell's work on colour blindness allowed him to win the Rumford Medal by the Royal Society of London. He wrote an admirable textbook of the Theory of Heat (1871), and an excellent elementary treatise on Matter and Motion (1876). In 1871, he was the first Cavendish Professor of Physics at Cambridge. Maxwell supervised the development of the Cavendish Laboratory. He superintended every step of the progress of the building and of the purchase of the very valuable collection of apparatus with which it was equipped at the expense of its generous founder, the 7th Duke of Devonshire (chancellor of the university, and one of its most distinguished alumni). One of Maxwell's last great contributions to science was the editing (with copious original notes) of the Electrical Researches of Henry Cavendish, from which it appeared that Cavendish researched such questions as the mean density of the earth and the composition of water, among other things. Maxwell had married Katherine Mary Dewar when he was 27 years of age, but had fathered no children. He died in Cambridge of abdominal cancer at the age of 48. He had been a devout Christian his entire life. Maxwell had unified the work of previous electromagnetic and optical experiments at last, reducing their experimental results and observations into a series of mathematical equations. These equations (as well as the Maxwell distribution) have proved to be extremely useful in physics ever since. They hold true in all cases and therefore yielded several new laws of electromagnetism and optics, most importantly electromagnetic radiation. The equations are fundamental to radio and television, and can be used for studying X-rays, gamma rays, infrared rays, and other forms of radiation. The extended biography The Life of James Clerk Maxwell, by his former schoolfellow and lifelong friend Professor Lewis Campbell, was published in 1882 and his collected works, including the series of articles on the properties of matter, such as Atom, Attraction, Capillary Action, Diffusion, Ether, etc., were issued in two volumes by the Cambridge University Press in 1890.

Quotations

:"Aye, I suppose I could stay up that late." — Maxwell, on being told on his arrival at Cambridge University that there would be a compulsory 6 a.m. church service. :"... I have the capacity of being more wicked than any example that man could set me, and ... if I escape, it is only by God's grace helping me to get rid of myself, partially in science, more completely in society, —but not perfectly except by committing myself to God ..." — Maxwell, circa 1853. :"The special theory of relativity owes its origins to Maxwell's equations of the electromagnetic field" — Albert Einstein :"He achieved greatness unequalled." — Max Planck :"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)" — Ivan Tolstoy (Biographer) :"From a long view of the history of mankind - seen from, say, ten thousand years from now - there can be little doubt that the most significant event of the 19th century will be judged as Maxwell's discovery of the laws of electrodynamics. The American Civil War will pale into provincial insignificance in comparison with this important scientific event of the same decade." — Richard Feynman :"Maxwell's equations have had a greater impact on human history than any ten presidents." — Carl Sagan

Poetry and song

As a great lover of English poetry, Maxwell memorised poems and wrote his own. The best known is Rigid Body Sings closely based on Comin' Through the Rye by Robert Burns, which he apparently used to sing while accompanying himself on a guitar. It has the immortal opening lines[http://www.haverford.edu/physics-astro/songs/rigid.htm]: :Gin a body meet a body Flyin' through the air. :Gin a body hit a body, Will it fly? And where? A collection of his poems was published by his friend Lewis Campbell in 1882.

Publications

- Maxwell, James Clerk, "On the Description of Oval Curves, and those having a plurality of Foci". Procedure of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Vol. ii. 1846.
- Maxwell, James Clerk, "Illustrations of the Dynamical Theory of Gases". 1860.
- Maxwell, James Clerk, "On Physical Lines of Force". 1861.
- Maxwell, James Clerk, "A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field". 1865.
- Maxwell, James Clerk, "Theory of Heat". 1871.
- Maxwell, James Clerk, "A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism". Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1873.
- Maxwell, James Clerk, "[http://www.thecore.nus.edu.sg/landow/victorian/science/science_texts/molecules.html Molecules]". Nature, September, 1873.
- Maxwell, James Clerk, "[http://www.antiquebooks.net/readpage.html#maxwell Matter and Motion]", 1876.
- Maxwell, James Clerk, "On the Results of Bernoulli's Theory of Gases as Applied to their Internal Friction, their Diffusion, and their Conductivity for Heat".

Honours

Maxwell was ranked #24 on Michael H. Hart's list of the most influential figures in history and #91 on the BBC poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.

Links, resources, and references

-
- Campbell, Lewis, "[http://www.sonnetusa.com/bio/maxwell.asp The Life of James Clerk Maxwell]". 1882. [Digital Preservation]
- Maxwell, James Clerk, "A Treatise on Electricity & Magnetism". Dover Publications, New York. 1873. ISBN 0-486-60636-8 (Vol. 1) ISBN 0-486-60637-6 (Vol. 2)
- Jack, Peter Michael, "[http://www.hypercomplex.com/research/emgrav/hypcx-p20001015.html Maxwell-equations: A Brief Note]". Physical space as a quaternion structure - I.
- [http://www.glenlair.org.uk Glenlair Today]
- [http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Maxwell.html Wolfram Research's Maxwell]
- [http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Maxwell.html MacTutor's Maxwell]
- [http://www.thecore.nus.edu.sg/landow/victorian/science/maxwell1.html Victorian Web's Maxwell]
- [http://silas.psfc.mit.edu/Maxwell/maxwell.html Maxwell and the Christian Proposition]
- [http://39.1911encyclopedia.org/M/MA/MAXWELL_JAMES_CLERK.htm 1911 Britannica Maxwell]
- [http://www.clerkmaxwellfoundation.org/ The James Clerk Maxwell Foundation] Including a virtual tour of the museum.
- [http://www.haverford.edu/physics-astro/songs/rigid.htm Rigid Body Sings] song lyrics by Maxwell
- [http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poet/400.html RPO -- Selected Poetry of James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879)] Maxwell, James Clerk Maxwell, James Clerk Maxwell, James Clerk Maxwell, James Clerk Maxwell, James Clerk Maxwell, James Clerk Maxwell, James Clerk Maxwell, James Clerk Maxwell, James Clerk Maxwell, James Clerk Maxwell, James Clerk Maxwell, James Clerk Maxwell ko:제임스 클러크 맥스웰 ja:ジェームズ・クラーク・マクスウェル

June 13

June 13 is the 164th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (165th in leap years), with 201 days remaining.

Events

- 1625 - King Charles I is married to the French princess Henrietta Maria de Bourbon
- 1774 - Rhode Island becomes the first of Britain's North American colonies to ban the importation of slaves.
- 1777 - American Revolutionary War: Marquis de Lafayette lands near Charleston, South Carolina, in order to help the Continental Congress to train its army.
- 1798 - Mission San Luis Rey de Francia is founded.
- 1805 - Lewis and Clark Expedition: Scouting ahead of the expedition, Meriwether Lewis and four companions sight the Great Falls of the Missouri River.
- 1871 - In Labrador, a hurricane kills 300 people.
- 1881 - The USS Jeannette is crushed in an Arctic Ocean ice pack.
- 1886 - A fire devastates much of Vancouver, British Columbia.
- 1898 - Yukon Territory is formed, with Dawson chosen as its capital.
- 1917 - Germany bombs London
- 1920 - The United States Postal Service rules that children may not be sent via parcel post.
- 1927 - A ticker-tape parade is held for aviator Charles Lindbergh down 5th Avenue in New York City.
- 1934 - Adolf Hitler and Mussolini meet in Venice, Italy; Mussolini later describes the German dictator as "a silly little monkey".
- 1935 - In one of the biggest upsets in championship boxing, the 10 to 1 underdog James J. Braddock defeated Max Baer in Long Island City, New York, and became the heavyweight champion of the world.
- 1942 - The United States opens its Office of War Information, a center for production of propaganda.
- 1944 - World War II: Germany launches a V1 Flying Bomb attack on England. Only four of the eleven bombs actually hit their targets.
- 1952 - Catalina affair, a Swedish Douglas DC-3 was shot down by a Soviet MiG-15 fighter.
- 1953 - Hungarian Prime Minister Mátyás Rákosi is replaced by Imre Nagy
- 1966 - The United States Supreme Court rules in Miranda v. Arizona that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them.
- 1967 - Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall is nominated as the first African American justice of the United States Supreme Court.
- 1970 - "The Long and Winding Road" becomes the Beatles' last Number 1 song.
- 1971 - Vietnam War: The New York Times begins to publish the Pentagon Papers. [http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/48.htm]
- 1977 - Convicted Martin Luther King assassin James Earl Ray is recaptured after escaping from prison three days before.
- 1981 - At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, a teenager fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II .
- 1982 - Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid.
- 1983 - Pioneer 10 becomes the first manmade object to leave the solar system.
- 1992 - The Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League logged the first (and, to date, only) shutout in league history, defeating the San Antonio Force, 50-0.
- 1995 - French president Jacques Chirac announces the resumption of nuclear tests in French Polynesia.
- 1996 - An 81-day standoff between the Freemen and FBI agents ends with their surrender in Montana.
- 1997 - A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to the death penalty for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
- 2000 - President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea meets Kim Jong-il, ruler of North Korea, for the beginning of the first ever inter-Korea summit, in the northern capital of Pyongyang.
- 2004 - A 4 kg meteorite hits the house of Phil and Brenda Archer in Ellerslie, New Zealand, destroying the roof and a couch.
- 2005 - Michael Jackson found not guilty on all 10 counts during his child molestation trial.

Births

- 823 - Charles the Bald, Holy Roman Emperor and King of the West Franks (d. 877)
- 1649 - Adrien Baillet, French scholar and critic (d. 1706)
- 1752 - Fanny Burney, english novelist and diarist (d. 1840)
- 1773 - Thomas Young, English scientist (d. 1829)
- 1775 - Antoni Radziwiłł, Polish politician (d. 1833)
- 1786 - Winfield Scott, U.S. general (d. 1866)
- 1831 - James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist (d. 1879)
- 1865 - William Butler Yeats, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1939)
- 1870 - Jules Bordet, Belgian immunologist and microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1961)
- 1876 - William Sealey Gosset, English chemist and statistician (d. 1937)
- 1884 - Gerald Gardner, British occultist (d. 1964)
- 1887 - Bruno Frank, German author (d. 1945)
- 1888 - Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese poet (d. 1935)
- 1892 - Basil Rathbone, English actor (d. 1967)
- 1893 - Dorothy L. Sayers, English author (d. 1957)
- 1897 - Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner (d. 1973)
- 1899 - Carlos Chávez, Mexican composer (d. 1978)
- 1901 - Tage Erlander, Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1985)
- 1903 - Harold 'Red' Grange, American football player (d. 1991)
- 1906 - Bruno de Finetti, Italian mathematician and statistician (d. 1985)
- 1910 - Mary Whitehouse, British campaigner (d. 2001)
- 1910 - Mary Wickes, American actress (d. 1995)
- 1911 - Luis Alvarez, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
- 1915 - Don Budge, American tennis player (d. 2000)
- 1926 - Paul Lynde, American actor (d. 1982)
- 1928 - John Forbes Nash, American mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics
- 1929 - Alan Civil, English French horn player (d. 1989)
- 1933 - Tom King, British politician
- 1935 - Christo, Bugarian artist
- 1941 - Esther Ofarim, Israeli singer
- 1943 - Malcolm McDowell, English actor
- 1945 - Whitley Strieber, American author
- 1951 - Richard Thomas, American actor
- 1953 - Tim Allen, American comedian and actor
- 1959 - Steve Georganas, Australian politician
- 1961 - Anders Järryd, Swedish tennis player
- 1962 - Ally Sheedy, American actress
- 1963 - Bettina Bunge, German tennis player
- 1964 - Kathy Burke, English actress and comedian
- 1966 - Grigori Perelman, Russian mathematician
- 1968 - David Gray, British singer and songwriter
- 1968 - Denise Pearson, British singer and songwriter (Five Star)
- 1970 - Chris Cairns, New Zealand cricketer
- 1970 - Rivers Cuomo, American singer and musician (Weezer)
- 1970 - Mikael Ljungberg, Swedish wrestler (d. 2004)
- 1973 - Sam Adams, American football player
- 1973 - Leeann Tweeden, American model and television personality
- 1974 - Steve-O, English television personality
- 1978 - Ethan Embry, American actor
- 1979 - Nila Håkedal, Norwegian beach volleyball player
- 1980 - Darius Vassell, English footballer
- 1982 - Kenenisa Bekele, Ethiopian athlete
- 1986 - Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, American actresses

Deaths

- 1036 - Ali az-Zahir, caliph (b. 1005)
- 1231 - Anthony of Padua, Portuguese saint (b. 1195)
- 1636 - George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly, Scottish politician (b. 1562)
- 1645 - Miyamoto Musashi, Japanese swordsman
- 1665 - Egbert Bartholomeusz Kortenaer, Dutch admiral (b. 1604)
- 1784 - Henry Middleton, American president of the Continental Congress (b. 1717)
- 1881 - Josef Skoda, Czech physician (b. 1805)
- 1886 - King Ludwig II of Bavaria (b. 1845)
- 1918 - Tsar Mikhail Alexandrovitch Romanov (b. 1878)
- 1931 - Shibasaburo Kitasato, Japanese physician (b. 1851)
- 1951 - Ben Chifley, Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1885)
- 1965 - Martin Buber, Austrian philosopher (b. 1878)
- 1972 - Clyde McPhatter, American musician (b. 1932)
- 1972 - Georg von Békésy, Hungarian biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)
- 1979 - Darla Hood, American actress (b. 1931)
- 1980 - Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian and political figure (b. 1942)
- 1982 - King Khalid of Saudi Arabia (b. 1912)
- 1986 - Benny Goodman, American musician (b. 1909)
- 1987 - Geraldine Page, American actress (b. 1924)
- 1993 - Deke Slayton, astronaut (b. 1924)
- 1998 - Birger Ruud, Norwegian athelete (b. 1911)
- 2004 - Dick Durrance, American skier (b. 1914)
- 2004 - Ralph Wiley, American writer (b. 1952)
- 2005 - Jonathan Adams, English actor (b. 1931)
- 2005 - Álvaro Cunhal, Portuguese politician and writer (b. 1913)
- 2005 - Lane Smith, American actor (b. 1936)

Holidays and observances

- Feast of St Anthony of Padua
- Roman Empire – Quinquatrus Minusculae held in honor of Minerva
- Roman Empire – seventh day of the Vestalia in honor of Vesta
- USA – World Children's Day
- Queen's Birthday in Australia (second Monday of June: 2005)

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/13 BBC: On This Day] ---- June 12 - June 14 - May 13 - July 13 – listing of all days ko:6월 13일 ms:13 Jun ja:6月13日 simple:June 13 th:13 มิถุนายน

November 5

November 5 is the 309th day of the year (310th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 56 days remaining. Remember, remember, the fifth of November...

Events

- 1556 - Fifty miles north of Delhi, a Mogul Army defeats Hindu forces of General Hemu to ensure Akbar the throne of India.
- 1605 - Gunpowder Plot: A plot lead by Robert Catesby to blow up the English Houses of Parliament is foiled when Sir Thomas Knyvet, a justice of the peace, finds Guy Fawkes in a cellar below the Parliament building.
- 1688 - Glorious Revolution begins: William of Orange lands at Brixham.
- 1838 - The United States of Central America began to disintegrate when Honduras separated from the federation.
- 1862 - American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln removes George McClellan as commander of the Union Army for the second and final time.
- 1862 - Indian Wars: In Minnesota, more than 300 Santee Sioux are found guilty of rape and murder of white settlers and are sentenced to hang.
- 1872 - Women's suffrage: In defiance of the law, suffragist Susan B. Anthony votes for the first time, and is later fined $100.
- 1895 - George B. Selden is granted the first U.S. patent for an automobile.
- 1911 - After declaring war on the Ottoman Empire on September 29, 1911, Italy annexes Tripoli and Cyrenaica.
- 1912 - U.S. presidential election, 1912: Democratic challenger Woodrow Wilson wins a victory over the Progressive former President Theodore Roosevelt and Republican incumbent William Howard Taft.
- 1913 - The insane king Otto of Bavaria is deposed by his cousin, Prince Regent Ludwig, who assumed the title Ludwig III.
- 1913 - United Kingdom annexes Cyprus, and together with France declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
- 1916 - The Kingdom of Poland proclaimed by the November 5th Act of the emperors of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
- 1916 - The Everett Massacre takes place as political differences lead to a shoot-out between IWW organizers and local police
- 1917 - St. Tikhon of Moscow was elected the Patriarch of Moscow and of the Russian Orthodox Church.
- 1930 - Sinclair Lewis is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
- 1935 - Parker Brothers releases the board game Monopoly.
- 1937 - World War II: Adolf Hitler holds a secret meeting and states his plans for acquiring "living space" for the German people.
- 1940 - U.S. presidential election, 1940: Democrat incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats Republican challenger Wendell Willkie and becomes the United States' first third-term president.
- 1962 - A mining accident kills 21 miners at the government-owned Kings Bay Coal Company on Svalbard, leading the Norweigian government to close the mine.
- 1968 - U.S. presidential election, 1968: Republican challenger Richard M. Nixon defeats Vice President Hubert Humphrey and American Independent Party candidate George C. Wallace.
- 1970 - Vietnam War: The United States Military Assistance Command in Vietnam reports the lowest weekly American soldier death toll in five years (24).
- 1979 - The radio news program Morning Edition premieres on National Public Radio.
- 1979 - Ayatollah Khomeini declares the USA to be "the great Satan".
- 1985 - Reliquary of St Maurus from the 13th century discovered in a cache in the chapel of Bečov Castle.
- 1987 - Apartheid: In South Africa, Govan Mbeki is released from custody after serving 24 years in the Robben Island prison. He had been sentenced to life for treason against the white minority South Africa government.
- 1990 - Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the far-right Kach movement, is shot dead after a speech at a New York City hotel.
- 1992 - In Detroit, Michigan, black motorist Malice Green is beaten to death by policemen Larry Nevers and Walter Budzyn during a struggle.
- 1994 - A letter by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan is released that announces he has Alzheimer's disease.
- 1994 - Forty-five year old George Foreman becomes boxing's oldest heavyweight champion when he knocks out Michael Moorer.
- 1995 - Jeff "CJayC" Veasey starts up GameFAQs.
- 1996 - U.S. presidential election, 1996: Democrat incumbent Bill Clinton defeats Republican challenger Bob Dole to win his second term.
- 1998 - Lewinsky scandal: As part of the impeachment inquiry, House Judiciary Committee chairman Henry Hyde sends a list of 81 questions to US President Bill Clinton.
- 1998 - The journal Nature publishes a genetic study showing compelling evidence that Thomas Jefferson fathered a son, Eston Hemings Jefferson, by his slave Sally Hemings.
- 1999 - United States v. Microsoft: U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issues a preliminary ruling that software maker Microsoft had "monopoly power".
- 2003 - The final installment of the Matrix Trilogy (The Matrix Revolutions) is released in theatres simultaneously around the world at 2:00 pm (GMT).

Births

- 1271 - Mahmud Ghazan, Persian ruler (d. 1304)
- 1549 - Philippe de Mornay, French writer (d. 1623)
- 1592 - Charles Chauncy, English-born president of Harvard College (d. 1672)
- 1613 - Isaac de Benserade, French poet (d. 1691)
- 1615 - Ibrahim I, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1648)
- 1667 - Christoph Ludwig Agricola, German painter (d. 1719)
- 1715 - John Brown, English writer (d. 1766)
- 1722 - William Byron, 5th Baron Byron, English dueler (d. 1798)
- 1742 - Richard Cosway, English artist (d. 1821)
- 1851 - Charles Dupuy, French prime minister (d. 1923)
- 1854 - Paul Sabatier, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941)
- 1855 - Léon Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist (d. 1913)
- 1855 - Eugene V. Debs, American socialist leader (d. 1926)
- 1857 - Ida Tarbell, American journalist (d. 1944)
- 1885 - Will Durant, American historian (d. 1981)
- 1890 - Jan Zrzavý, Czech painter (d. 1977)
- 1892 - J. B. S. Haldane, Scottish geneticist (d. 1964)
- 1895 - Walter Gieseking, French pianist (d. 1956)
- 1895 - Charles MacArthur, American author (d. 1956)
- 1900 - Martin Dies, Jr., American politician (d. 1972)
- 1900 - Natalie Schafer, American actress (d. 1991)
- 1905 - Joel McCrea, American actor (d. 1990)
- 1906 - Fred Lawrence Whipple, American astronomer (d. 2004)
- 1911 - Roy Rogers, American actor (d. 1998)
- 1913 - Vivien Leigh, English actress (d. 1967)
- 1920 - Douglass North, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1921 - Georges Cziffra, Hungarian pianist (d. 1994)
- 1921 - Fawzia of Egypt, Queen of Iran
- 1931 - Ike Turner, American musician
- 1938 - César Luis Menotti, Argentine footballer
- 1941 - Art Garfunkel, American musician
- 1941 - Elke Sommer, German actress
- 1943 - Sam Shepard, American playwright and actor
- 1946 - Herman Brood, Dutch musician and artist
- 1946 - Gram Parsons, American musician (d. 1973)
- 1947 - Peter Noone, English musician and actor
- 1948 - William Daniel Phillips, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1949 - Armin Shimerman, American actor
- 1952 - Bill Walton, American basketball player and commentator
- 1955 - Bernard Chazelle, French-born computer scientist
- 1958 - Robert Patrick, American actor
- 1959 - Bryan Adams, Canadian musician
- 1963 - Andrea McArdle, American actress
- 1963 - Tatum O'Neal, American actress
- 1965 - Famke Janssen, Danish model and actress
- 1971 - Corin Nemec, American actor
- 1971 - Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood, Guitarist (Radiohead)
- 1973 - Johnny Damon, baseball player
- 1974 - Ryan Adams, American musician
- 1974 - Jerry Stackhouse, American basketball player
- 1975 - Angela Gossow, German singer (Arch Enemy)
- 1977 - Richard Wright, English footballer
- 1986 - BoA, Korean singer
- 1986 - Kasper Schmeichel, Danish footballer

Deaths

- 1515 - Mariotto Albertinelli, Italian painter (b. 1474)
- 1559 - Kano Motonobu, Japanese painter (b. 1476)
- 1660 - Lucy Hay, Countess of Carlisle, English socialite (b. 1599)
- 1660 - Alexandre de Rhodes, French Jesuit missionary (b. 1591)
- 1701 - Charles Gerard, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield, French-born English politician
- 1714 - Bernardino Ramazzini, Italian physician (b. 1633)
- 1752 - Carl Andreas Duker, German classical scholar (b. 1670)
- 1758 - Hans Egede, Norwegian Lutheran missionary (b. 1686)
- 1836 - Karel Hynek Mácha, Czech poet (b. 1810)
- 1879 - James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist (b. 1831)
- 1930 - Christiaan Eijkman, Dutch physician and pathologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1858)
- 1933 - Texas Guinan, American saloon keeper, actress, and musician (b. 1884)
- 1941 - Arndt Pekurinen, Finnish pacifist (b. 1905)
- 1942 - George M. Cohan, American musician, actor, writer, and composer (b. 1878)
- 1944 - Alexis Carrel, French surgeon and biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1873)
- 1951 - Reggie Walker, South African athlete (b. 1889)
- 1955 - Maurice Utrillo, French artist (b. 1883)
- 1956 - Art Tatum, American musician (b. 1909)
- 1960 - Ward Bond, American actor (b. 1903)
- 1960 - Mack Sennett, Canadian producer and director (b. 1880)
- 1974 - Stafford Repp, American actor (b. 1918)
- 1975 - Edward Lawrie Tatum, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1909)
- 1975 - Lionel Trilling, American critic and writer (b. 1905)
- 1977 - René Goscinny, French comic book writer (b. 1926)
- 1977 - Guy Lombardo, Canadian conductor (b. 1902)
- 1979 - Al Capp, American cartoonist (b. 1909)
- 1982 - Jacques Tati, French actor and director (b. 1908)
- 1985 - Spencer W. Kimball, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1895)
- 1989 - Vladimir Horowitz, Russian pianist (b. 1903)
- 1990 - Meir Kahane, American rabbi and activist (b. 1932)
- 1991 - Fred MacMurray, American actor (b. 1908)
- 1997 - Isaiah Berlin, Latvian-born historian of ideas (b. 1909)
- 2000 - Victor Grinich, American businessman (b. 1924)
- 2001 - Roy Boulting, English film director and producer (b. 1913)
- 2003 - Bobby Hatfield, American singer (Righteous Brothers) (b. 1940)
- 2005 - Rod Donald, New Zealand environmentalist (b. 1957)
- 2005 - John Fowles, English writer (b. 1926)
- 2005 - Link Wray, American musician (b. 1929)

Holidays and observances

- United Kingdom and New Zealand - Guy Fawkes night (also called Bonfire night; or Fireworks night): Failure of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament in 1605 is celebrated with bonfires and fireworks.
- R.C. Saints - November 5th is the feast day of the following Roman Catholic Saints:
- St. Bertilia
- St. Dominator
- St. Domninus
- St. Elizabeth
- St. Felix and Eusebius
- St. Fibitius
- St. Galation
- St. Laetus
- St. Magnus
- St. Sylvia
- Pope Zacharias
- Ancient Latvia - the festival Katrina

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/5 BBC: On This Day] ---- November 4 - November 6 - October 5 - December 5 - more historical anniversaries ko:11월 5일 ms:5 November ja:11月5日 simple:November 5 th:5 พฤศจิกายน

Scotland

Scotland (Alba in Gaelic) is a nation in northwest Europe and a constituent country of the United Kingdom. The name originally meant Land of the Gaels (see below). The country occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shares a land border to the south with England and is bounded by the North Sea on the east and the Atlantic Ocean on the west. Its capital city is Edinburgh. Despite no longer being an independent sovereign state, Scotland is still considered a country in its own right. Scotland existed as an independent Kingdom until 1 May 1707, when the Act of Union 1707 merged Scotland with the Kingdom of England to create the Kingdom of Great Britain. The flag of Scotland — the Saltire — is thought to be the oldest national flag still in use. The patron saint of Scotland is Saint Andrew, and Saint Andrew's Day is the 30 November. There are currently attempts to create an additional national holiday on this day.

Etymology

The English language name Scotland could date from at least the first half of the 10th century, when it was used in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The word Scot- was borrowed from Latin. We cannot assume Scotland was being used here to mean anything other than Land of the Gaels, just like Latin Scotia. Scottish kings adopted the title Basileus/Rex Scottorum (= High King/King of the Gaels) and Rex Scotiae (King of Gael-Land) some time in the 11th century. The earliest attribution of the latter Latin title was by the Germany-based Irish writer Marianus Scotus, recording the death of King Máel Coluim mac Cináeda as Moelcoluim Rex Scotiae, for the year 1034. In taking this title, they were likely influenced by the style Imperator Scottorum known to have been employed by Brian Bóruma in 1005. In the early 13th century, the Scotto-Norman author of de Situ Albanie protested that Scotia was a corrupt word for what should be called Albania; but by then Scotia was becoming the norm in Latin, French and English; and hence Scotia and its derivitives prevailed in all languages except the Celtic ones. The Kingdom of Scotland has traditionally been regarded as being united in 843, by Cináed mac Ailpín, King of the Picts, the man who is known to the modern English-speaker as King Kenneth I of Scotland.

History

See also the main article: History of Scotland. The written history of Scotland largely began with the arrival of the Roman Empire in Britain, when the Romans occupied what is now England and Wales, administering it as a Roman province called Britannia. To the north was territory not governed by the Romans—Caledonia, peopled by the Picts. From a classical historical viewpoint Scotland seemed a peripheral country, slow to gain advances filtering out from the Mediterranean fount of civilisation, but as knowledge of the past increases it has become apparent that some developments were earlier and more advanced than previously thought, and that the seaways were very important to Scottish history. The country's lengthy struggle with England, its more powerful neighbour to the south, was the cause of the Wars of Scottish Independence, forcing Scotland to rely on trade, cultural and often strategic ties with a number of European powers, most notably France. In these, the Scots repudiated the English king's assertions of paramountcy. They fought firstly under the leadership of Sir William Wallace and Andrew de Moray in support of John Balliol, and later under that of Robert the Bruce. Bruce, crowned as King Robert I in 1306, won a decisive victory over the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Battle of Bannockburn From roughly the end of the 14th century, Scotland began to show a split into two cultural areas — the mainly Scots, or English, speaking Lowlands, and the mainly Gaelic-speaking Highlands. Gaelic persisted in remote parts of the southwest, which had formed part of the rival kingdom of Galloway during the early medieval period, probably up until the late 1700s. Historically, the Lowlands were closer to the mainstream European culture, and adopted a variant of the feudal system after the Norman Conquest of England. A number of major families of Norman ancestry, such as the Bruce, Douglas, and Stewart families, provided most of the monarchs after approximately 1100. By comparison, the clan system of the Highlands formed one of the region's more distinctive features, with a number of powerful clans remaining dominant until after the Act of Union. It is worth noting that the Western Isles, along with Orkney and Shetland, were part of Norway until 1266 and 1468 respectively; the culture of these islands, in many ways, remained distinct from the rest of Scotland until the modern period. In 1603, the Scottish King James VI inherited the throne of England, and became James I of England. James moved to London, only returning to Scotland once. Although he subsequently styled himself as the King of Great Britain, this was a personal union: the two nations shared a head of state but remained separate kingdoms, with the exception of a brief period when Oliver Cromwell overthrew the monarchy and Scotland was under English military occupation. In 1707, the Scottish and English Parliaments enacted the Acts of Union, which merged the Kingdom of Scotland with the Kingdom of England, creating the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Union dissolved both the English and the Scottish Parliaments, and transferred all their powers to a new Parliament sitting in London which then became the Parliament of the United Kingdom. However, most of Scotland's institutions remained separate, notably the country's legal system and its established church; these distinctions remain to the present day. In 1801, Scotland became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, when the Kingdom of Great Britain merged with the Kingdom of Ireland. Since 1922, Scotland has been one of the four constituent nations (along with England, Northern Ireland and Wales) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In 1997 the people of Scotland voted to create a new devolved Scottish Parliament, subsequently established by the UK government under the Scotland Act 1998. Following the Act of Union and the subsequent Scottish Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution, Scotland became one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Its industrial decline following the Second World War was particularly acute, but in recent decades the country has enjoyed something of a cultural and economic renaissance, fuelled in part by a resurgent financial services sector, the proceeds of North Sea oil and gas, and latterly the devolved parliament.

Geography

Clan Grant Main article: Geography of Scotland. Scotland comprises the northern part of the island of Great Britain; it is bordered on the south by England. Scotland's territorial extent is generally that established by the 1237 Treaty of York between Scotland and England and the 1266 Treaty of Perth between Scotland and Norway. Exceptions include the Isle of Man, which is now a crown dependency outside the United Kingdom, Orkney and Shetland, which are Scottish rather than Norwegian, and Berwick-upon-Tweed, which was defined as subject to the laws of England by the 1746 Wales and Berwick Act. The country consists of a mainland area plus several island groups, including Shetland, Orkney, and the Hebrides, divided into the Inner Hebrides and Outer Hebrides. Three main geographical and geological areas make up the mainland: from north to south, the generally mountainous Highlands containing Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain, the low-lying Central Belt, and the hilly Southern Uplands. The majority of the Scottish population resides in the Central Belt, which contains three of the country's six largest cities (Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Stirling) and many large towns. Most of the remaining population lives in the North-East Lowlands, where two of the remaining three cities (Aberdeen and Dundee) are situated. The final city, Inverness, is situated where the River Ness meets the Moray Firth, on the Great Glen Fault between the North-West Highlands and the Cairngorms. Highest maximum temperature: 32.9°C (91.2°F) at Greycrook, near Newtown St. Boswells, Borders on 9 August 2003. Lowest minimum temperature: -27.2°C (-17.0°F) at Braemar, Aberdeenshire on 11 February 1895 and 10 January 1982 and at Altnaharra, Highland on 30 December 1995. [http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/location/scotland/#temperature]

Major cities

The six designated cities in descending order of population size:
- Glasgow
- Edinburgh, the capital
- Aberdeen
- Dundee
- Inverness
- Stirling Scottish towns:
- List of burghs in Scotland

Waterways

- Major Rivers:
- The Clyde, The Dee, The Don, The Forth, The Tay, The Tweed, The Spey, ...
- Firths:
- Solway, Clyde, Cromarty, Dornoch, Forth, Lorne, Moray, Tay
- Sea Lochs (fjords):
- Loch Linnhe, Loch Fyne, Loch Long, Loch Etive, Loch Sunart, Loch Nevis, Loch Hourn, Loch Broom, Loch Eil
- Freshwater Lochs (lakes) include:
- Loch Ness, Loch Lomond, Loch Morar, Loch Tay, Loch Rannoch, Loch Awe, Loch Shiel, Loch Maree, The Lake of Menteith
- Artificial & Enhanced waterways include:
- Caledonian Canal, Crinan Canal, Forth and Clyde Canal, Union Canal
- See Also Falkirk Wheel

Geology

When vulcanism actively occurred in East Lothian, 350 million years ago, the rocks which now comprise Scotland lay close to the equator, and formed part of the newly amalgamated supercontinent of Pangaea. The continental plates making up Pangaea continued to converge, and a major collision occurred with the continent of Gondwana. The northern and southern parts of the island of Great Britain became adjoined only 75 million years before the onset of vulcanism in East Lothian. Before then, Scotland lay on the margin of the Laurentian continent, which included North America and Greenland. England and Wales lay some 40° of latitude further south, adjacent to Africa and South America in the Gondwanan continent. In the Early Ordovician, approximately 475 million years ago, England and Wales, on the Avalonian plate, rifted away from Gondwana and drifted northward towards Laurentia. The Iapetus Ocean, which separated the two land masses, began to close. By the mid-Silurian, about 420 million years ago, its margins had become attached along the Iapetus Suture, which roughly follows a line running West to East from the Solway Firth to Northumberland. When the later episode of vulcanism occurred, approximately 270 million years ago, Scotland still comprised part of Pangaea, but had drifted northward. East Lothian stood at about 8°North. Consolidation of Pangaea had continued so that the nearest ocean, the Tethys seaway, lay between Eurasia and Africa. Siccar Point in Berwickshire, Scotland, is where James Hutton (the "father" of modern geology) first observed this classic unconformity and recognized the meaning of stratigraphy.

Government and politics

Government

As one of the constituent parts of the United Kingdom, Scotland is represented in the Parliament of the United Kingdom in London. The Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh has the power to govern the country on Scotland-specific matters and has a limited power to vary income tax. The United Kingdom Parliament retains responsibility for Scotland's defence, international relations and certain other areas. The Scottish Parliament is not a sovereign authority, and the UK Parliament could, in theory, overrule or even abolish it at any time. For the purposes of local government, Scotland is divided into 32 unitary authority districts. Popular folk-memory continues to divide Scotland into 33 traditional counties.

Head of state

traditional counties]] Queen Elizabeth II, head of state of the United Kingdom, is descended from King James VI, King of Scots, the first Scottish monarch to also be King of England (James I, King of England from 1603). While great controversy has simmered amongst the Scottish public over her official title since her coronation (many believe that, being the first Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain, she should use the regnal name "Elizabeth I"), the courts of Scotland have confirmed "Elizabeth II" as her official title. She has said that in the future monarchs will follow the international ordinal tradition that, where a monarch reigns in a number of non-independent territories (or independent territories that agree to share a monarch) that each have a differing number of previous monarchs of the same name, the highest ordinal used in any of the territories is the one used across all (see List of regnal numerals of future British monarchs). Monarchs between 1603 and 1707, such as James VI and I and James VII and II, reigned over separate states and hence used a dual ordinal (see Personal union). Properly, the Scottish monarch was known as King of Scots or Queen of Scots, and referred to as "your Grace", rather than "your Majesty".

Scots Law

Scotland retains its own unique legal system, based on Roman law, which combines features of both civil law and common law. The terms of union with England specified the retention of separate systems. The barristers being called advocates, and the judges of the high court for civil cases are also the judges for the high court for criminal cases. Scots Law differs from England's common law system. Formerly, there were several regional law systems in Scotland, one of which was Udal Law (also called allodail or odal law) in Shetland and Orkney. This was a direct descendant of Old Norse Law, but was abolished in 1611. Despite this, Scottish courts have acknowledged the supremacy of udal law in some property cases as recently as the 1990s. There is a movement to restore udal law[http://www.udallaw.com/] to the islands as part of a devolution of power from Edinburgh to Shetland and Orkney. The laws regarding the nobility are also different in Scotland. Lords known as "Barons" in England are known as "Lords of Parliament." Gentlemen known as "Barons" in Scotland are not members of the House of Lords, as their titles (although still legitimate) are based on the old system of feudal baronies. Various systems based on common Celtic or Brehon Laws also survived in the Highlands until the 1800s.

Politics

See main article: Politics of Scotland, also Politics of the United Kingdom Politics of the United Kingdom Historically the politics of Scotland have reflected those of the UK as a whole, although with some differences. For example, besides the main UK-wide political parties (Labour, Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats) a number of Scottish-specific parties operate. These include the Scottish National Party (SNP) which is Scotland's second largest party and forms the main opposition in Parliament to the Labour-Liberal Democrats coalition, as well as the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) and the Scottish Green Party. These parties became more of a force in Scottish politics after the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1998. Unlike England, which has a more of a left/right split politically, the political right in Scotland is actually amongst the smallest political groupings with the four main Parties all coming from a mix of far-left to moderate-left philosophies. The traditional political divides of left and right have also intersected with arguments over devolution, which all the UK-wide parties have supported to some degree throughout their history (although both Labour and the Conservatives have swithered a number of times between supporting and opposing it). However, now that devolution has occurred, the main argument about Scotland's constitutional status remains between those who support Scottish independence and those who oppose it. Recent trends indicate, according to the Joseph Rowntree [http://www.jrrt.org.uk/FINDINGS.pdf Reform Trust "State of the Nation Poll"] 2004, that 66% of Scots would like the Scottish Parliament to have more powers, while only 2% would like to see the powers returned to the