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Cavendish Laboratory : Maxwell's notes on Maxwell's demon and on the possibility of a molecular aether, c. 1875

Cavendish Laboratory

<p style='text-align: justify;'>The manuscript was apparently found among Maxwell's letters to Tait by C.G. Knott. Maxwell had first formulated his 'demon' paradox in a letter to Tait of 11 December 1867. Thomson first used the name 'demon' in his paper 'The kinetic theory of the dissipation of energy' from 1874, thinking that it was Maxwell's own term. The concluding lines are by Robert Montgomery. For more details see: P.M. Harman, 'The scientific letters and papers of James Clerk Maxwell', Vol.III, CUP 2002, p.185. This photograph of the manuscript was probably taken on the occasion of the Maxwell Centenary Celebration in 1931.</p>

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