James Clerk Maxwell, a precursor of system identification and control science

One hundred and fifty years ago James Clerk Maxwell published his celebrated paper ‘Dynamical theory of electromagnetic field’, where the interaction between electricity and magnetism eventually found an explanation. However, Maxwell was also a precursor of model identification and control ideas. Indeed, with the paper ‘On Governors’ of 1869, he introduced the concept of feedback control system; and moreover, with his essay on Saturn’s rings of 1856 he set the basic principle of system identification. This paper is a tutorial exposition having the aim to enlighten these latter aspects of Maxwell’s work.