William Cavendish, James Clerk Maxwell, and John William Strutt black plaque

This black commemorative plaque records: Cavendish Laboratory 1874-1974 Established by the Duke of Devonshire and extended by Lord Rayleigh (1908) and Lord Austin (1940), the Cavendish Laboratory housed the Department of Physics from the time of the first Cavendish Professor, James Clerk Maxwell, until its move to new laboratories in West Cambridge

Duke William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire, established the Cavendish Laboratory in 1874; James Clerk Maxwell, a theoretical physicist famous for unifying electricity, magnetism, and light into one theory, was the first Cavendish Professor; Rt Hon. Lord John William Strutt, also known as Lord Rayleigh, extended the laboratory in 1908 and is renowned for discovering argon, leading to his Nobel Prize in Physics.