People who watch way too much TV (like me) will certainly remember the “Real Men of Genius” commercials.  Here’s one of my personal favorites:

Local radio stations all over the country made parodies of these, as did sketch comics.  While trying to come up with something for my weekly blog, I saw that today was the anniversary of the passing of 19th century physicist James Clerk Maxwell.  So, if you’ll try to keep the background music from the video above playing in your head while you read this, let’s see if I can pay proper tribute:

James Clerk Maxwell…even though Albert Einstein is famous for the Special Theory of Relativity, he credited YOU for laying the groundwork.  You not only theorized the relationship between electricity, magnetism, and light, but you also proved it mathematically…so Albert didn’t have to.  He said your work was “the most profound and the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton.”

Singer: Albert Einstein pretty much called you an “Einstein” the way we call geniuses “Einsteins.”

Professor Maxwell…you devoted your life to learning.  About EVERYTHING.  As if solving Einstein’s problem with the Theory of Relativity (40 years before he knew he had a problem with it) wasn’t enough, you decided to find out what the rings of Saturn were made of.  Over 100 years before we could send the Voyager spacecraft to find out for sure.  And you were right.

Then you discovered how to take color photographs by experimenting with light filters.

Singer: Not only did you tell us what Saturn’s rings were made of, we have color photographs of them thanks to you….

James Clerk Maxwell…your theory that a “friendly little demon” could somehow separate gases into hot and cold flows, while unproven in your lifetime, did actually come to fruition by the development of the Vortex Tube.  Which does just that.

Singer: That’s right, I just drew a straight line from Maxwell’s Demon to EXAIR’s Vortex Tube & Spot Cooling Products!

So here’s to you, James Clerk Maxwell…may we continue to recognize your brilliance, and be inspired by your drive to push forward in scientific developments.

Singer (building to final crescendo): James Clerk Maxwell, a Real Hero Of Sci-i-i-i-i-ence!

If you’d like to hear the musical parts of this actually get sung, or if you’d like to find out more about Vortex Tube products and their uses (it might be best to stick with that second part actually,) give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
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