James Clerk Maxwell

The only way of avoiding error is to get rid of the idea that we know beforehand what we are going to find, and to allow ourselves to be led by the facts.

The true logic of this world is in the calculus of probabilities.

The velocity of the transverse undulations in our hypothetical medium, calculated from the electromagnetic experiments of MM. Kohlrausch and Weber, agrees so exactly with the velocity of light calculated from the optical experiments of M. Fizeau, that we can scarcely avoid the inference that light consists in the transverse undulations of the same medium which is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena.

We have thus a theory of light which, while it is consistent with the known laws of the propagation of light, is also consistent with the known laws of electricity and magnetism.

The conception of the ether, as a medium filling all space and transmitting light and other radiations, is one of the most important steps in the history of physical science.

The most important result of the investigation is that a disturbance in the electromagnetic field travels with the velocity of light.

The equations of the electromagnetic field are the most important discovery in physics since Newton's Principia.

The scientific mind is not a blank tablet on which nature writes, but an active agent which interprets and organizes the data of experience.

The only way to learn to do a thing is to do it.

The great aim of science is to make things clear, and to make them clear to everyone.

The value of a scientific theory is not to be measured by the number of facts it explains, but by the number of new facts it predicts.

The human mind is not a passive recipient of knowledge, but an active constructor of reality.

The most important function of a scientific theory is to provide a framework for further research.

The only way to avoid error is to get rid of the idea that you can avoid it.

I have been thinking about the nature of light, and I believe that it is an electromagnetic phenomenon.

What is done by what is called 'force' is done by the motion of matter.

The velocity of light is so nearly that of the electromagnetic wave that it is difficult to avoid the inference that light consists in the transverse undulations of the same medium which is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena.

I have also a great respect for the opinion of the 'practical man,' when he is really practical, and not merely a man of routine.

The only way to understand a thing is to try to make it.

The most important result of my work is the discovery of the electromagnetic nature of light.