James Clark Maxwell
The Photography King
His Life
James Clark Maxwell was born June 13, 1831 in Edinburgh, UK. All through his childhood he had loved science, always preforming experiments at home. He wrote his first scientific book, out of 19, in 1864. James Clark Maxwell had always been amazed by photography. He said, "In science, it is when we take some interest in the great discoverers and their lives that it becomes endurable, and only when we begin to trace the development of ideas that it becomes fascinating."
James Clark Maxwell in his younger age
James was always eager to learn anything as a child, especially science! This is a picture of him at around age 12.
The first color photograph
This is said to be the first taken color photograph. The colors were created of light mixtures, and the only starting colors were red, dark green, and light blue.
James Clark Maxwell in his later life
This is one of the more famous photos of James Clark Maxwell. It was taken before the first color camera was invented (that's why it's not in color).
The Inventing of the Color Camera
A Color Camera
James Clark Maxwell got the idea for the first color camera when he found out that the human eye could only see the three basic colors, red, green and blue. He figured that if he could capture those three colors into the photo, the human eye could be fooled into seeing a full color photo. After years of trial and error and much designing, nobody thought it was possible to make a color photo. Even James himself didn't believe anymore! After many many years, it finally worked! everyone was so amazed that it actually worked that it didn't take off sales for a while because it was thought to malfunction! This camera really helped remember the civil war- and in color!