Maxwell is widely regarded as one of the most brilliant men ever. His contributions to physics, through studies of electromagnetism and his proposal that light is a wave, are still extremely influential. He succeeded in successfully modelling much of what is still known of wave behavior in only a few equations, the so-called "Maxwell Equations." He also studied Saturn's rings, the first person to propose that they had actual substance. He also developed a stastical method of analysis for gases.
Like Chevreul and Helmholtz, Maxwell also studied color vision. His precise mathematical analysis of vision furthered the work done by Young on the trichromatic scheme of color vision and paved the way for Helmholtz's work. Maxwell also invented a method of studying the blending of colors. Any rapidly rotating disc with spots of different colors on it will seem to be but one color to the eye. To study this, Maxwell invented what are now known as "Maxwell's discs"--a set of discs which interlock interchangeably to form one multicolored disc.
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