James clerk maxwell scientist biography ivan tolstoy

Paul M. Sutter is an astrophysicist at SUNY Stony Brook and the Flatiron Institute, host of "Ask a Spaceman"and "Space Radio," and author of "How to Die in Space."

Everyone's a fan of Albert Einstein, and for good reason: He invented at least four new fields of physics, spun a brand-new theory of gravity out of the fabric of his own imagination, and taught us the true nature of time and space.

But who was Einstein a fan of?

James Clerk Maxwell. Who? Oh, he's only the scientist responsible for explaining the forces behind the radio in your car, the magnets on your fridge, the heat of a warm summer day and the charge on a battery.

Related: Famous Einstein equation used to create matter from light for first time

In the beginning

Most people aren't familiar with Maxwell, a 19th-century Scottish scientist and polymath.

Yet he was perhaps the single greatest s