Abstract: The famous British physicist James Clerk Maxwell (1831—1879) also has a variety of pioneering contributions in mechanics, among which the truss structure layout optimization research belongs to the category of structural topology optimization, which is still in the rise of research hotspots, and Maxwell first proposed it more than 100 years ago. Due to the long time, Maxwell's contribution to the layout optimization of discrete structures such as trusses, quite a number of domestic monographs, textbooks and journal articles involving the study of structural optimization, respectively listed it as 1864, 1870, 1872 and 1890, etc., is really inconsistent. Most people, including us, never thought that there would be so many statements at this point in time, and even misinformation and confusion. When we wondered at what age Maxwell had made such an important discovery, we were struck by the fact that 1890 was 11 years after his death! Therefore, it was found