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Leaving the academy at age 16, Maxwell enrolled at the University of Edinburgh. The University of Edinburgh appealed to him due to the all-star staff that presided there at the time. The staff was comprised of such notables as James Forbes, Philip Kelland, and Sir William Hamilton. These formed the wellspring from which Maxwell drank his education. James Forbes in particular proved to be a source of great inspiration for Maxwell, especially when it came to doing experiments in the lab. Forbes allowed Maxwell to use his personal lab and equipment to carry out many of his early scientific endeavors. Among them were some of his first experiments in the field of electromagnetism.

When Maxwell went back to Glenlair to visit his family, he had a working lab waiting for him there as well. This one, much more ramshackle, was constructed by Maxwell himself. Situated above the family washhouse, the chaotic space was referred to by his relatives as “Jamesie’s dirt.” It was indeed dirty and grimy, but these were just the kinds of places that Maxwell used early on to hone his intellectual abilities. Here he made his first electromagnetic contraptions, fashioned batteries, and constructed electro-plated canning jars. He also studied how light worked through prisms and how prismatic light permeated through various substances such as jelly in order to determine the distribution rate of the light.

Just a couple of years later, at the age of 18, Maxwell would write his ground-breaking treatise called “On the Equilibrium of Elastic Solids.” This work would be important later on when Maxwell worked on the concept that shear stress can lead to double refraction in viscous liquids. Maxwell’s papers were considered to be rather ingenious by those who read them, but he was still considered too young to take his case to the Royal Society himself. So it was that Maxwell’s tutor often had the task of presenting the work to the Royal Society in his place. Regardless of how the paper was presented, the Royal Society was absolutely amazed.

The next major milestone in Maxwell’s life was when he enrolled at the prestigious University of Cambridge in the fall of 1850, but it wasn’t long before he transferred to Trinity, which was a constituent college of the university. Maxwell was officially recommended to the school by James Forbes who advised the headmaster that “he [Maxwell] is not a little uncouth in his manners, but withal one of the most original young men I have ever met with.”

At Trinity, Maxwell would hone his philosophical skills by joining a college fraternity dedicated to debate, called the Cambridge Apostles. James Clerk Maxwell, who wasn’t too openly religious before, seems to have developed much of his beliefs as it pertained to God and the afterlife while vigorously debating his cohorts in the Cambridge Apostles. By all accounts, Maxwell was quite busy and active during his time at Trinity with a full course load that kept him preoccupied for most of the day. Although Maxwell was grateful for the intellectual stimulus, it didn’t bode well for keeping up with physical fitness—an aspect of his life he valued since his rough-and-tumble days of youth at Glenlair. Maxwell found a way to work some exercise into his schedule, however, when he discovered that by waking up in the wee hours of the morning, he could run down the halls and staircases of his dormitory. This, of course, was not exactly a welcome event for his fellow boarders trying to sleep during those hours. As one of his classmates would later recall, some of the other students would even lay in wait for Maxwell to pass so that they could have shots at him, hurling shoes, brushes, and any other items they could get their hands on at the bounding Maxwell as he ran by.

Waking up your dormmates at three in the morning certainly doesn’t seem like a good means of endearment, yet despite this seeming eccentricity, Maxwell was widely respected by most who knew him. He did well at Trinity, and before he knew it, it was time for his final round of testing before graduation. It is said that in these efforts, Maxwell was a “Second Wrangler” meaning that he was ranked second out of his whole class.

Maxwell would ultimately graduate from Trinity in the year 1854 with a mathematical degree. Soon after having received his degree, he delivered a new mathematical treatise, “On the Transformation of Surfaces by Bending,” to the Cambridge Philosophical Society. This was a purely mathematical paper and perfectly exhibited Maxwell’s soon to be world-renowned skillset. His next major treatise was a paper about the nature of light entitled “Experiments on Colour,” which he personally presented to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in March of 1855. Soon thereafter Maxwell, now a fellow of Trinity, was asked to run the speaker’s circuit at his alma mater, lecturing students on the latest scientific breakthroughs.

After making the rounds on the lecture circuit, Maxwell was then persuaded to put in an application for a full-time professorial position at Marischal College in the Natural Philosophy Department. It was while he was in the process of applying to this new role that Maxwell would be struck with the tragedy of his father passing away on April 2, 1856. Sadly, John would not get to see his son’s acceptance as the newest member of the faculty, but Maxwell was determined to make his father proud all the same. It was John that had encouraged Maxwell’s love of science and his love for life in general more than anyone else. Maxwell would hold the times that he had with his father dear for the rest of his life, but more importantly, he would hold himself to a high standard and make sure to retain the honor and acclaim of his great family name.