Cavendish Laboratory : Maxwell's dynamical top with adjustments (1857)
Cavendish Laboratory
<p style='text-align: justify;'>Photograph of Maxwell's 1857 dynamical top with nine adjustments. The dynamical top was designed by Maxwell to illustrate the dynamical behaviour of rotating bodies according to the theory of rotational motion. The top was constructed in brass by Ramage of Aberdeen. The top has a colour disc on top. It was brought to Cambridge by Maxwell when he came up to take his M.A. degree in the summer of 1857.</p>