James Clerk Maxwell

James Clerk Maxwell, a name that echoes in the halls of physics, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, to a landowning family. His family lineage is firmly rooted in Scottish aristocracy and Protestantism, leaving little room for any ancestral detours through the shtetl or beyond.

Maxwell’s personal faith was devoutly Presbyterian, a tradition not exactly known for its matzo ball soup or menorah lighting. He was quite serious about his Calvinist beliefs, even writing theological poetry and engaging in religious discussions, ensuring his "I" score remains firmly at zero.

However, what Maxwell lacked in Jewish identity, he more than made up for in sheer intellectual horsepower. His set of four partial differential equations didn't just describe electromagnetic fields; they predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves and showed that light itself was an electromagnetic phenomenon. This wasn't just a good idea; it was one of the greatest achievements in physics, setting the stage for Einstein's relativity and practically everything else that lights up, buzzes, or transmits data.

When your work inspires the likes of Albert Einstein and underpins modern technology from radio to Wi-Fi, you've earned a K-score that practically glows. While he might not have been a Jew, his contributions certainly brought a colossal amount of nachas to humanity, even if we can't claim him as one of our own.