Portal:Scotland

The tower in 2013

The National Wallace Monument (generally known as the Wallace Monument) is a 67 m (220 ft) tower on the shoulder of the Abbey Craig, a hilltop overlooking Stirling in Scotland. It commemorates Sir William Wallace, a 13th- and 14th-century Scottish knight. The tower is open to the public for an admission fee. Visitors approach by foot from the base of the crag on which it stands. On entry there are 246 steps to the final observation platform, with three exhibition rooms within the body of the tower. The tower is not accessible to disabled visitors. (... Read the full article)

26 October 2026 – 2026–27 European windstorm season

Two people are killed and around 90,000 more are left without electricity after the impact of Storm Boelo in Scotland, parts of Northern Ireland, and northern England. (AA)

17 October 2026 –

A Piper Tomahawk II aircraft crashes near Drymen, Stirling, Scotland, killing the two people on board. (BBC News)

14 September 2026 – Separatism in the United Kingdom, Decolonization

The First Ministers of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales meet in Cardiff at a summit to call for their independence from the United Kingdom. (BBC News) (The Guardian)

Maxwell, c. 1870s

James Clerk Maxwell FRS FRSE (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish physicist and mathematician who was responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and light as different manifestations of the same phenomenon. Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism achieved the second great unification in physics, where the first one had been realised by Isaac Newton. Maxwell was also key in the creation of statistical mechanics.

Maxwell graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1854, where he earned distinction in mathematics and the Smith's Prize. He remained at Cambridge briefly, publishing early mathematical work and investigations into optics, particularly the principles of colour combination and colour-blindness. He later held the Chair of Natural Philosophy at Marischal College in Aberdeen, where he studied the rings of Saturn and correctly proposed that they were composed of numerous small particles, work that earned him the Adams Prize in 1859. During this time he married Katherine Mary Dewar, who assisted him in his laboratory work. From 1860 to 1865, he served as the Professor of Natural Philosophy at King's College London, where he developed his theory of electromagnetic fields. His publication of "A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field" in 1865 demonstrated that electric and magnetic fields travel through space as waves moving at the speed of light, proposing that light is an undulation in the same medium that is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena. His unification of light and electrical phenomena led to his prediction of the existence of radio waves.

Maxwell was the first to derive the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution, a statistical means of describing aspects of the kinetic theory of gases, which he worked on sporadically throughout his career. He presented the first durable colour photograph in 1861, and showed that any colour can be produced with a mixture of any three primary colours, those being red, green, and blue, the basis for colour television. He worked on analysing the rigidity of rod-and-joint frameworks (trusses) like those in many bridges. He devised modern dimensional analysis and helped to establish the CGS system of measurement. He was the first to recognize chaos, and the first to emphasize the butterfly effect. His 1863 paper On Governors serves as an important foundation for control theory and cybernetics, and was also the earliest mathematical analysis on control systems. In 1867, he proposed the thought experiment known as Maxwell's demon, which challenges how information affects entropy in thermodynamics. In his seminal 1867 paper On the Dynamical Theory of Gases he introduced the Maxwell model for describing the behavior of a viscoelastic material and originated the Maxwell-Cattaneo equation for describing the transport of heat in a medium.

In 1871, Maxwell returned to Cambridge as the first Cavendish Professor of Physics, overseeing the construction of the Cavendish Laboratory. As a result of his work he is regarded as a founder of the modern field of electrical engineering. (... Read the full article)

• ... that historically, lichens like Umbilicaria torrefacta have been used to naturally dye traditional Scottish tartans and textiles?
• ... that Scottish bricklayer Brian Higgins was unable to find work for 25 years after appearing on a construction-industry blacklist?
• ... that Paddy Higson was known as the "mother of Scottish film"?
• ... that a miniature golf chain is an affiliate member of both England and Scotland's national governing bodies for golf?
• ... that the urban environment around Glasgow's Argyle Street ash tree may have helped it to survive ash dieback disease?
• ... that Thomas Kerr protested the Iraq War with his SNP-supporting aunt, later campaigned for Labour, joined the Conservatives, and defected to Reform UK?
• ... that the Scottish painter Carole Gibbons had her first US exhibition in her eighties?
• ... that the Scottish judge Lord Duthie served as an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve?