Lord Kelvin: Difference between revisions
Added mention that Prof William Thomson is a past president of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, hence the erection of his memorial by that society. |
→Marine: Added the year he developed the harmonic analyzer/tide-predicting machine |
||
Line 217: | Line 217: | ||
Thomson introduced a method of deep-sea [[Echo sounding|sounding]], in which a steel [[piano wire]] replaces the ordinary hand line. The wire glides so easily to the bottom that "flying soundings" can be taken while the ship is going at full speed. A pressure gauge to register the depth of the sinker was added by Thomson. |
Thomson introduced a method of deep-sea [[Echo sounding|sounding]], in which a steel [[piano wire]] replaces the ordinary hand line. The wire glides so easily to the bottom that "flying soundings" can be taken while the ship is going at full speed. A pressure gauge to register the depth of the sinker was added by Thomson. |
||
About the same time he revived the [[Sumner method]] of finding a ship's place at sea, and calculated a set of tables for its ready application. |
About the same time he revived the [[Sumner method]] of finding a ship's place at sea, and calculated a set of tables for its ready application. In 1876, he constructed a harmonic analyzer, in which an assembly of disks were used to sum trigonometric series and thus to [[Tide-predicting machine|predict tides]]. Kelvin mentioned that a similar device could be built to solve differential equations.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wolfram|first=Stephen|title=A New Kind of Science|publisher=Wolfram Media, Inc.|year=2002|page=1107|isbn=1-57955-008-8}}</ref> |
||
During the 1880s, Thomson worked to perfect the adjustable [[compass]] in order to correct errors arising from [[magnetic deviation]] owing to the increasing use of iron in [[naval architecture]]. Thomson's design was a great improvement on the older instruments, being steadier and less hampered by friction, the deviation due to the ship's own magnetism being corrected by movable masses of iron at the [[binnacle]]. Thomson's innovations involved much detailed work to develop principles already identified by [[George Biddell Airy]] and others but contributed little in terms of novel physical thinking. Thomson's energetic lobbying and networking proved effective in gaining acceptance of his instrument by [[The Admiralty]]. |
During the 1880s, Thomson worked to perfect the adjustable [[compass]] in order to correct errors arising from [[magnetic deviation]] owing to the increasing use of iron in [[naval architecture]]. Thomson's design was a great improvement on the older instruments, being steadier and less hampered by friction, the deviation due to the ship's own magnetism being corrected by movable masses of iron at the [[binnacle]]. Thomson's innovations involved much detailed work to develop principles already identified by [[George Biddell Airy]] and others but contributed little in terms of novel physical thinking. Thomson's energetic lobbying and networking proved effective in gaining acceptance of his instrument by [[The Admiralty]]. |
Revision as of 19:16, 3 April 2018
The Lord Lister | |
---|---|
Personal details | |
Born | Glasgow University | 26 June 1824
Known for |
|
Awards |
|
Scientific career | |
Institutions | University of Glasgow |
Academic advisors | William Hopkins |
Notable students |
|
It is believed the "PNP" in his signature stands for "Professor of Natural Philosophy." Note that Kelvin also wrote under the pseudonym "P. Q. R." | |
William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin,
Absolute temperatures are stated in units of kelvin in his honour. While the existence of a lower limit to temperature (absolute zero) was known prior to his work, Lord Kelvin is widely known for determining its correct value as approximately −273.15 degree Celsius or −459.67 degree Fahrenheit.
He was
Always active in industrial research and development, he was recruited around 1899 by George Eastman to serve as vice-chairman of the board of the British company Kodak Limited, affiliated with Eastman Kodak.[6]
Early life and work
Family
William Thomson's father, James Thomson, was a teacher of mathematics and engineering at Royal Belfast Academical Institution and the son of a farmer. James Thomson married Margaret Gardner in 1817 and, of their children, four boys and two girls survived infancy. Margaret Thomson died in 1830 when William was six years old.[7]
William and his elder brother James were tutored at home by their father while the younger boys were tutored by their elder sisters. James was intended to benefit from the major share of his father's encouragement, affection and financial support and was prepared for a career in engineering.
In 1832, his father was appointed professor of mathematics at Glasgow and the family moved there in October 1833. The Thomson children were introduced to a broader cosmopolitan experience than their father's rural upbringing, spending mid-1839 in London and the boys were tutored in French in Paris. Mid-1840 was spent in Germany and the Netherlands. Language study was given a high priority.
His sister, Anna Thomson, was the mother of
Youth
This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2017) |
Thomson had heart problems and nearly died when he was 9 years old. He attended the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, where his father was a professor in the university department, before beginning study at Glasgow University in 1834 at the age of 10, not out of any precociousness; the University provided many of the facilities of an elementary school for able pupils, and this was a typical starting age.
In school, Thomson showed a keen interest in the classics along with his natural interest in the sciences. At the age of 12 he won a prize for translating
In the academic year 1839/1840, Thomson won the class prize in
Go, wondrous creature! mount where Science guides;
Go measure earth, weigh air, and state the tides;
Instruct the planets in what orbs to run,
Correct old Time, and regulate the sun;
Thomson became intrigued with
While holidaying with his family in
Cambridge
William's father was able to make a generous provision for his favourite son's education and, in 1841, installed him, with extensive letters of introduction and ample accommodation, at
While at Cambridge, Thomson was active in sports, athletics and sculling, winning the Colquhoun Sculls in 1843.[15] He also took a lively interest in the classics, music, and literature; but the real love of his intellectual life was the pursuit of science. The study of mathematics, physics, and in particular, of electricity, had captivated his imagination.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/91/Hubert_von_Herkomer03.jpg/170px-Hubert_von_Herkomer03.jpg)
In 1845, he gave the first mathematical development of Faraday's idea that electric induction takes place through an intervening medium, or "dielectric", and not by some incomprehensible "action at a distance". He also devised the mathematical technique of electrical images, which became a powerful agent in solving problems of electrostatics, the science which deals with the forces between electrically charged bodies at rest. It was partly in response to his encouragement that Faraday undertook the research in September 1845 that led to the discovery of the Faraday effect, which established that light and magnetic (and thus electric) phenomena were related.
He was elected a fellow of
Thermodynamics
By 1847, Thomson had already gained a reputation as a precocious and maverick scientist when he attended the
Thomson was intrigued but sceptical. Though he felt that Joule's results demanded theoretical explanation, he retreated into an even deeper commitment to the Carnot–Clapeyron school. He predicted that the melting point of ice must fall with pressure, otherwise its expansion on freezing could be exploited in a perpetuum mobile. Experimental confirmation in his laboratory did much to bolster his beliefs.
In 1848, he extended the Carnot–Clapeyron theory still further through his dissatisfaction that the
In his publication, Thomson wrote:
... The conversion of heat (or caloric) into mechanical effect is probably impossible, certainly undiscovered
— But a footnote signalled his first doubts about the caloric theory, referring to Joule's very remarkable discoveries. Surprisingly, Thomson did not send Joule a copy of his paper, but when Joule eventually read it he wrote to Thomson on 6 October, claiming that his studies had demonstrated conversion of heat into work but that he was planning further experiments. Thomson replied on 27 October, revealing that he was planning his own experiments and hoping for a reconciliation of their two views.
Thomson returned to critique Carnot's original publication and read his analysis to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in January 1849,[19] still convinced that the theory was fundamentally sound. However, though Thomson conducted no new experiments, over the next two years he became increasingly dissatisfied with Carnot's theory and convinced of Joule's. In February 1851 he sat down to articulate his new thinking. However, he was uncertain of how to frame his theory and the paper went through several drafts before he settled on an attempt to reconcile Carnot and Joule. During his rewriting, he seems to have considered ideas that would subsequently give rise to the second law of thermodynamics. In Carnot's theory, lost heat was absolutely lost but Thomson contended that it was "lost to man irrecoverably; but not lost in the material world". Moreover, his theological beliefs led to speculation about the heat death of the universe.
I believe the tendency in the material world is for motion to become diffused, and that as a whole the reverse of concentration is gradually going on – I believe that no physical action can ever restore the heat emitted from the Sun, and that this source is not inexhaustible; also that the motions of the Earth and other planets are losing vis viva which is converted into heat; and that although some vis viva may be restored for instance to the earth by heat received from the sun, or by other means, that the loss cannot be precisely compensated and I think it probable that it is under-compensated.[20]
Compensation would require a creative act or an act possessing similar power.[20]
In final publication, Thomson retreated from a radical departure and declared "the whole theory of the motive power of heat is founded on ... two ... propositions, due respectively to Joule, and to Carnot and Clausius."[21] Thomson went on to state a form of the second law:
It is impossible, by means of inanimate material agency, to derive mechanical effect from any portion of matter by cooling it below the temperature of the coldest of the surrounding objects.[22]
In the paper, Thomson supported the theory that heat was a form of motion but admitted that he had been influenced only by the thought of Sir
As soon as Joule read the paper he wrote to Thomson with his comments and questions. Thus began a fruitful, though largely epistolary, collaboration between the two men, Joule conducting experiments, Thomson analysing the results and suggesting further experiments. The collaboration lasted from 1852 to 1856, its discoveries including the Joule–Thomson effect, sometimes called the Kelvin–Joule effect, and the published results[24] did much to bring about general acceptance of Joule's work and the kinetic theory.
Thomson published more than 650 scientific papers[25] and applied for 70 patents (not all were issued). Regarding science, Thomson wrote the following.
In physical science a first essential step in the direction of learning any subject is to find principles of numerical reckoning and practicable methods for measuring some quality connected with it. I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about and express it in numbers you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind: it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced to the stage of science, whatever the matter may be.[26]
Transatlantic cable
Calculations on data rate
Though now eminent in the academic field, Thomson was obscure to the general public. In September 1852, he married childhood sweetheart Margaret Crum, daughter of
Faraday had demonstrated how the construction of a cable would limit the rate at which messages could be sent – in modern terms, the
Thomson contended that the signalling speed through a given cable was inversely proportional to the square of the length of the cable. Thomson's results were disputed at a meeting of the British Association in 1856 by Wildman Whitehouse, the electrician of the Atlantic Telegraph Company. Whitehouse had possibly misinterpreted the results of his own experiments but was doubtless feeling financial pressure as plans for the cable were already well under way. He believed that Thomson's calculations implied that the cable must be "abandoned as being practically and commercially impossible."
Thomson attacked Whitehouse's contention in a letter to the popular
Scientist to Engineer
Thomson became scientific adviser to a team with Whitehouse as chief electrician and Sir
Thomson sailed on board the cable-laying ship
Thomson developed a complete system for operating a submarine telegraph that was capable of sending a
Whitehouse still felt able to ignore Thomson's many suggestions and proposals. It was not until Thomson convinced the board that using purer copper for replacing the lost section of cable would improve data capacity, that he first made a difference to the execution of the project.[32]
The board insisted that Thomson join the 1858 cable-laying expedition, without any financial compensation, and take an active part in the project. In return, Thomson secured a trial for his mirror galvanometer, about which the board had been unenthusiastic, alongside Whitehouse's equipment. However, Thomson found the access he was given unsatisfactory and the Agamemnon had to return home following the disastrous storm of June 1858. Back in London, the board was on the point of abandoning the project and mitigating their losses by selling the cable. Thomson,
Disaster and triumph
Thomson's fears were realized when Whitehouse's apparatus proved insufficiently sensitive and had to be replaced by Thomson's mirror galvanometer. Whitehouse continued to maintain that it was his equipment that was providing the service and started to engage in desperate measures to remedy some of the problems. He succeeded only in fatally damaging the cable by applying 2,000 V. When the cable failed completely Whitehouse was dismissed, though Thomson objected and was reprimanded by the board for his interference. Thomson subsequently regretted that he had acquiesced too readily to many of Whitehouse's proposals and had not challenged him with sufficient energy.[33]
A joint committee of inquiry was established by the Board of Trade and the Atlantic Telegraph Company. Most of the blame for the cable's failure was found to rest with Whitehouse.[34] The committee found that, though underwater cables were notorious in their lack of reliability, most of the problems arose from known and avoidable causes. Thomson was appointed one of a five-member committee to recommend a specification for a new cable. The committee reported in October 1863.[35]
In July 1865, Thomson sailed on the cable-laying expedition of the
To exploit his inventions for signalling on long submarine cables, Thomson now entered into a partnership with
Later expeditions
Thomson took part in the laying of the French Atlantic
Thomson's wife had died on 17 June 1870 and he resolved to make changes in his life. Already addicted to seafaring, in September he purchased a 126 ton schooner, the Lalla Rookh[36][37] and used it as a base for entertaining friends and scientific colleagues. His maritime interests continued in 1871 when he was appointed to the board of enquiry into the sinking of the HMS Captain.
In June 1873, Thomson and Jenkin were on board the Hooper, bound for Lisbon with 2,500 miles (4,020 km) of cable when the cable developed a fault. An unscheduled 16-day stop-over in Madeira followed and Thomson became good friends with Charles R. Blandy and his three daughters. On 2 May 1874 he set sail for Madeira on the Lalla Rookh. As he approached the harbour, he signalled to the Blandy residence "Will you marry me?" and Fanny signalled back "Yes". Thomson married Fanny, 13 years his junior, on 24 June 1874.
Other contributions and trivia
Thomson and Tait: Treatise on Natural Philosophy
Over the period 1855 to 1867, Thomson collaborated with
A second edition appeared in 1879, expanded to two separately bound parts. The textbook set a standard for early education in mathematical physics.
Kelvin's vortex theory of the atom
Between 1870 and 1890 a theory purporting that an atom was a vortex in the aether was immensely popular among British physicists and mathematicians. About 60 scientific papers were written by around 25 scientists. Following the lead of Thomson and Tait,[38] the branch of topology called knot theory was developed. Kelvin's initiative in this complex study that continues to inspire new mathematics has led to persistence of the topic in history of science.[39][40]
Marine
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/DSCN1739-thomson-tide-machine.jpg/170px-DSCN1739-thomson-tide-machine.jpg)
Thomson was an enthusiastic yachtsman, his interest in all things relating to the sea perhaps arising from, or at any rate fostered by, his experiences on the Agamemnon and the Great Eastern.
Thomson introduced a method of deep-sea sounding, in which a steel piano wire replaces the ordinary hand line. The wire glides so easily to the bottom that "flying soundings" can be taken while the ship is going at full speed. A pressure gauge to register the depth of the sinker was added by Thomson.
About the same time he revived the
During the 1880s, Thomson worked to perfect the adjustable
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/Sir_Lord_Kelvin_Mariner%27s_Compass_with_Sun_Dial.jpg/220px-Sir_Lord_Kelvin_Mariner%27s_Compass_with_Sun_Dial.jpg)
Scientific biographers of Thomson, if they have paid any attention at all to his compass innovations, have generally taken the matter to be a sorry saga of dim-witted naval administrators resisting marvellous innovations from a superlative scientific mind. Writers sympathetic to the Navy, on the other hand, portray Thomson as a man of undoubted talent and enthusiasm, with some genuine knowledge of the sea, who managed to parlay a handful of modest ideas in compass design into a commercial monopoly for his own manufacturing concern, using his reputation as a bludgeon in the law courts to beat down even small claims of originality from others, and persuading the Admiralty and the law to overlook both the deficiencies of his own design and the virtues of his competitors'.
The truth, inevitably, seems to lie somewhere between the two extremes.[42]
Charles Babbage had been among the first to suggest that a lighthouse might be made to signal a distinctive number by occultations of its light but Thomson pointed out the merits of the Morse code for the purpose, and urged that the signals should consist of short and long flashes of the light to represent the dots and dashes.
Electrical standards
Thomson did more than any other electrician up to his time in introducing accurate methods and apparatus for measuring electricity. As early as 1845 he pointed out that the experimental results of
In 1893, Thomson headed an international commission to decide on the design of the Niagara Falls power station. Despite his belief in the superiority of direct current electric power transmission, he endorsed Westinghouse's alternating current system which had been demonstrated at the Chicago World's Fair of that year. Even after Niagara Falls Thomson still held to his belief that direct current was the superior system.[44]
Acknowledging his contribution to electrical standardisation, the
Age of the Earth: geology and theology
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Lord_Kelvin_Vanity_Fair_1897-04-29.jpg/170px-Lord_Kelvin_Vanity_Fair_1897-04-29.jpg)
Thomson remained a devout believer in Christianity throughout his life; attendance at chapel was part of his daily routine.[46] He saw his Christian faith as supporting and informing his scientific work, as is evident from his address to the annual meeting of the Christian Evidence Society,[47] 23 May 1889.[48]
One of the clearest instances of this interaction is in his estimate of the
After the publication of
Thomson's initial 1864 estimate of the Earth's age was from 20 to 400 million years old. These wide limits were due to his uncertainty about the melting temperature of rock, to which he equated the earth's interior temperature,[54][55] as well as the uncertainty in thermal conductivities and specific heats of rocks. Over the years he refined his arguments and reduced the upper bound by a factor of ten, and in 1897 Thomson, now Lord Kelvin, ultimately settled on an estimate that the Earth was 20–40 million years old.[56][57] In a letter published in Scientific American Supplement 1895 Kelvin criticized geologist’s estimates of the age of rocks and the age of the earth, like estimates of Charles Darwin, as “vaguely vast age”.[58]
His exploration of this estimate can be found in his 1897 address to the
It was widely believed that the discovery of radioactivity had invalidated Thomson's estimate of the age of the Earth. Thomson himself never publicly acknowledged this because he thought he had a much stronger argument restricting the age of the Sun to no more than 20 million years. Without sunlight, there could be no explanation for the sediment record on the Earth's surface. At the time, the only known source for the solar power output was
Later life and death
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/27/The_Thomson_family_grave_and_memorial%2C_Glasgow_Necropolis.jpg/170px-The_Thomson_family_grave_and_memorial%2C_Glasgow_Necropolis.jpg)
In the winter of 1860–1861 Kelvin slipped on some ice and fractured his leg, causing him to limp thereafter.[63] He remained something of a celebrity on both sides of the Atlantic until his death.
In the
In November 1907 he caught a chill and his condition deteriorated until he died at his Scottish residence, Netherhall, in Largs on 17 December.[68]
Lord Kelvin was an
William is also memorialised on the Thomson family grave in Glasgow Necropolis. The family grave has a second modern memorial to William alongside, erected by the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow; a society that he was president of in the periods 1856-58 and 1874-77 [71].
Aftermath and legacy
Limits of classical physics
In 1884, Thomson led a
On 27 April 1900 he gave a widely reported lecture titled Nineteenth-Century Clouds over the Dynamical Theory of Heat and Light to the
Pronouncements later proved to be false
Like many scientists, Thomson made some mistakes in predicting the future of technology.
His biographer Silvanus P. Thompson writes that "When
His forecast for practical aviation (i.e., heavier-than-air aircraft) was negative. In 1896 he refused an invitation to join the Aeronautical Society, writing that "I have not the smallest molecule of faith in aerial navigation other than ballooning or of expectation of good results from any of the trials we hear of."[77] And in a 1902 newspaper interview he predicted that "No balloon and no aeroplane will ever be practically successful."[78]
The statement "There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement" has been widely misattributed to Kelvin since the 1980s, either without citation or stating that it was made in an address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1900).[79] There is no evidence that Kelvin said this,[80][81] and the quote is instead a paraphrase of Albert A. Michelson, who in 1894 stated: "… it seems probable that most of the grand underlying principles have been firmly established … An eminent physicist remarked that the future truths of physical science are to be looked for in the sixth place of decimals."[81] Similar statements were given earlier by others, such as Philipp von Jolly.[82] The attribution to Kelvin giving an address in 1900 is presumably a confusion with his "Two clouds" speech, delivered to the Royal Institution in 1900 (see above), and which on the contrary pointed out areas that would subsequently see revolutions.
In 1898, Kelvin predicted that only 400 years of oxygen supply remained on the planet, due to the rate of burning combustibles.
Eponyms
A variety of physical phenomena and concepts with which Thomson is associated are named Kelvin:
- Kelvin material
- Kelvin water dropper
- Kelvin wave
- Kelvin–Helmholtz instability
- Kelvin–Helmholtz mechanism
- Kelvin–Helmholtz luminosity
- The SI unit of temperature, kelvin
- Kelvin transform in potential theory
- Kelvin's circulation theorem
- Kelvin bridge (also known as Thomson bridge)
- Kelvin–Stokes theorem
- Kelvin–Varley divider
- Kelvin sensing
- Kelvin functions
Honours
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/The_memorial_of_William_Thomson%2C_1st_Baron_Kelvin%2C_University_of_Glasgow.jpg/220px-The_memorial_of_William_Thomson%2C_1st_Baron_Kelvin%2C_University_of_Glasgow.jpg)
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1847.
- Keith Medal, 1864.
- Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prize, 1887.
- President, 1873–1878, 1886–1890, 1895–1907.
- Foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 1851.
- Fellow of the Royal Society, 1851.
- Royal Medal, 1856.
- Copley Medal, 1883.
- President, 1890–1895.
- Hon. Member of the Royal College of Preceptors (College of Teachers), 1858.
- Hon. Member of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland, 1859.[85]
- Knighted 1866.[86]
- Commander of the Imperial Order of the Rose (Brazil), 1873.
- Commander of the Legion of Honor(France), 1881.
- Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, 1889.
- Knight of the Prussian Order Pour le Mérite, 1884.
- Commander of the Order of Leopold (Belgium), 1890.
- Baron Kelvin, of County of Ayr, 1892.[87] The title derives from the River Kelvin, which runs by the grounds of the University of Glasgow. His title died with him, as he was survived by neither heirs nor close relations.
- Knight Grand Cross of the Victorian Order, 1896.[88]
- Honorary degree Legum doctor (LL.D.), Yale University, 5 May 1902.[89]
- One of the first members of the Order of Merit, 1902.[90]
- Privy Counsellor, 11 August 1902.[67]
- Honorary degree Doctor mathematicae from the Royal Frederick University on 6 September 1902, when they celebrated the centennial of the birth of mathematician Niels Henrik Abel.[91][92]
- First international recipient of John Fritz Medal, 1905.
- Order of the First Class of the Sacred Treasure of Japan, 1901.
- He is buried in Westminster Abbey, London next to Isaac Newton.
- Lord Kelvin was commemorated on the £20 note issued by the Clydesdale Bank in 1971; in the current issue of banknotes, his image appears on the bank's £100 note. He is shown holding his adjustable compass and in the background is a map of the transatlantic cable.[93]
- The town of Kelvin, Arizona, is named in his honour, as he was reputedly a large investor in the mining operations there.
- In 2011 he was one of seven inaugural inductees to the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame.[94]
Arms
![]() |
|
See also
- List of things named after Lord Kelvin
- Kelvin sensing
- Kelvin equation
- Kelvin problemregarding partitioning space.
References
- ^ Grabiner, Judy (2002). "Creators of Mathematics: The Irish Connection (book review)" (PDF). Irish Math. Soc. Bulletin. 48: 67. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
- ^ [1] Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^ Kelvin and Ireland Raymond Flood, Mark McCartney and Andrew Whitaker (2009) J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 158 011001
- ^ Randall, Lisa (2005). Warped Passages. New York: HarperCollins. p.162
- ^ "Hutchison, Iain "Lord Kelvin and Liberal Unionism"" (PDF). Retrieved 29 October 2011.
- ^ Lord Kelvin, Recipient of The John Fritz Medal in 1905 Matthew Trainer, Physics in Perspective, (2008) 10, 212-223
- ^ "Biography of William Thomson's father". Groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
- ^ Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1783–2002
- ^ P.Q.R (1841) "On Fourier's expansions of functions in trigonometric series" Cambridge Mathematical Journal 2, 258–262
- ^ P.Q.R (1841) "Note on a passage in Fourier's 'Heat'" Cambridge Mathematical Journal 3, 25–27
- ^ P.Q.R (1842) "On the uniform motion of heat and its connection with the mathematical theory of electricity" Cambridge Mathematical Journal 3, 71–84
- ^ Niven, W.D. (ed.) (1965). The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell, 2 vols. New York: Dover. Vol. 2, p. 301.
{{cite book}}
:|author=
has generic name (help) - ^ "Thomson, William (THN841W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Thompson (1910) vol. 1, p. 98
- ^ "Peterhouse Boat Club Fund – Timeline". Pbcf.org. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ McCartney, Mark (1 December 2002). "William Thomson: king of Victorian physics". Physics World. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
- ^ Chang (2004), Ch.4
- ^ Thomson, W. (1848) "On an Absolute Thermometric Scale founded on Carnot's Theory of the Motive Power of Heat, and calculated from Regnault's observations" Math. and Phys. Papers vol. 1, pp 100–106
- ^ — (1949) "An Account of Carnot's Theory of the Motive Power of Heat; with Numerical Results deduced from Regnault's Experiments on Steam" Math. and Phys. Papers vol.1, pp 113–155
- ^ a b Sharlin (1979), p.112
- ^ Thomson, W. (1851) "On the dynamical theory of heat; with numerical results deduced from Mr. Joule's equivalent of a thermal unit and M. Regnault's observations on steam" Math. and Phys. Papers vol. 1, pp 175–183
- ^ Thomson, W. (March 1851). "On the Dynamical Theory of Heat, with numerical results deduced from Mr Joule's equivalent of a Thermal Unit, and M. Regnault's Observations on Steam". Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. XX (part II): 261–268, 289–298. Also published in Thomson, W. (December 1852). "On the Dynamical Theory of Heat, with numerical results deduced from Mr Joule's equivalent of a Thermal Unit, and M. Regnault's Observations on Steam". Phil. Mag. 4. IV (22): 8–21. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
- ^ Thomson, W. (1851) p.183
- ^ Thomson, W. (1856) "On the thermal effects of fluids in motion" Math. and Phys. Papers vol.1, pp 333–455
- ^ "William Thomson, Baron Kelvin (Scottish engineer, mathematician, and physicist) - Encyclopædia Britannica". Britannica.com. 17 December 1907. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
- ^ Thomson, W. (1891). Popular Lectures and Addresses, Vol. I. London: MacMillan. p. 80. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36507. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Thomson, W. (1854) "On the theory of the electric telegraph" Math. and Phys. Papers vol.2, p.61
- ^ Thomson, W. (1855) "On the peristaltic induction of electric currents in submarine telegraph wires" Math. and Phys. Papers vol.2, p.87
- ^ Thomson, W. (1855) "Letters on telegraph to America" Math. and Phys. Papers vol.2, p.92
- ^ Thomson, W. (1857) Math. and Phys. Papers vol.2, p.154
- ^ Sharlin (1979) p.141
- ^ Sharlin (1979) p.144
- ^ "Board of Trade Committee to Inquire into … Submarine Telegraph Cables’, Parl. papers (1860), 52.591, no. 2744
- ^ "Report of the Scientific Committee Appointed to Consider the Best Form of Cable for Submersion Between Europe and America" (1863)
- ISBN 9780393608830.
- ^ "Lord Kelvin's sailing yacht 'Lalla Rookh', c 1860-1900". stock images.
- ^ Wm. Thomson (1867) On Vortex Atoms, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 6: 94–105
- ^ Silliman, Robert H. (1963) William Thomson: Smoke Rings and Nineteenth-Century Atomism, Isis 54(4): 461–474. JSTOR link
- ^ Helge Kragh (211) Higher Speculations, Grand Theories and Failed Revolutions in Physics and Cosmology, Oxford University Press
- ISBN 1-57955-008-8.
- ^ Lindley (2004), p.259
- ^ "Maclean, Magnus, 1857-1937, electrical engineer". University of Strathclyde Archives. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
- ^ David Lindley, Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy, page 293
- ^ IEC. "1906 Preliminary Meeting Report, pp 46-48" (PDF). The minutes from our first meeting. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
- ^ McCartney & Whitaker (2002), reproduced on Institute of Physics website
- ^ Thomson, W. (1889) Address to the Christian Evidence Society
- ^ The Finality of this Globe, Hampshire Telegraph, 15 June 1889, p. 11.
- ^ Sharlin (1979) p.169
- ^ Burchfield (1990)
- ISBN 0-8018-4391-X.
- ^ a b c Kelvin did pay off gentleman's bet with Strutt on the importance of radioactivity in the Earth. The Kelvin period does exist in the evolution of stars. They shine from gravitational energy for a while (correctly calculated by Kelvin) before fusion and the main sequence begins. Fusion was not understood until well after Kelvin's time. England, P.; Molnar, P.; Righter, F. (January 2007). "John Perry's neglected critique of Kelvin's age for the Earth: A missed opportunity in geodynamics". GSA Today. 17 (1): 4–9. .
- ^ ""Of Geological Dynamics" excerpts". Zapatopi.net. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
- ^ Tung, K.K. "Topics in Mathematical Modeling" (Princeton University Press 2007), p.243-251. In Thomson's theory the earth's age is proportional to the square of the difference between interior temperature and surface temperature, so that the uncertainty in the former leads to an even larger relative uncertainty in the age.
- ^ Thomson, William. "On the Secular Cooling of the Earth". Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. XXIII: 160–161.
- ISBN 978-0-226-08043-7.
- ISBN 0-02-349381-X.
- ^ Heuel-Fabianek, Burkhard. "Natürliche Radioisotope: die "Atomuhr" für die Bestimmung des absoluten Alters von Gesteinen und archäologischen Funden". StrahlenschutzPraxis. 1/2017: 31–42.
- ISBN 978-0-8284-0292-7.
- ISBN 978-0-8284-0292-7.
- ^ Perry, John (1895) "On the age of the earth," Nature, 51 : 224-227, 341-342, 582-585. (51:224, 51:341, 51:582 at Internet Archive)
- .
- ^ Philips, Thompson S. The Life of William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs.
- ^ "The Coronation Honours". The Times. No. 36804. London. 26 June 1902. p. 5. template uses deprecated parameter(s) (help)
- ^ "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36842. London. 9 August 1902. p. 6. template uses deprecated parameter(s) (help)
- ^ "No. 27470". The London Gazette. 2 September 1902. p. 5679.
- ^ a b "No. 27464". The London Gazette. 12 August 1902. p. 5173.
- ^ "Death of Lord Kelvin". Times.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|url=
(help) - ISBN 0671621300.
- ^ Silvanus P. Thompson, The Life of William Thomson: Baron Kelvin of Largs (London: Macmillan, 1910), p.1087, 1209
- ISBN 0-9544965-0-7.
- ISBN 0-262-11117-9
- ^ "Lord Kelvin, Nineteenth Century Clouds over the Dynamical Theory of Heat and Light", reproduced in Notices of the Proceedings at the Meetings of the Members of the Royal Institution of Great Britain with Abstracts of the Discourses, Volume 16, p. 363–397
- ^ The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, Series 6, volume 2, pages 1–40 (1901)
- ^ The life of William Thomson, baron Kelvin of Largs, vol2, "Views and Opinions"
- ^ The Royal Society, London
- ^ Letter from Lord Kelvin to Baden Powell 8 December 1896
- ^ Interview in the Newark Advocate 26 April 1902
- ^ Superstring: A theory of everything? (1988) by Paul Davies and Julian Brown
- ^ Einstein (2007) by Walter Isaacson, page 575
- ^ a b The End of Science (1996), by John Horgan, p. 19
- ISBN 0-676-97789-8.
- ^ "Papers Past — Evening Post — 30 July 1898 — A Startling Scientific Prediction". Paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
- ^ [2]
- ^ "Honorary Members and Fellows". Institution of Engineers in Scotland. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
- ^ "No. 23185". The London Gazette. 16 November 1866. p. 6062.
- ^ "No. 26260". The London Gazette. 23 February 1892. p. 991.
- ^ "No. 26758". The London Gazette. 14 July 1896. p. 4026.
- ^ "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36760. London. 6 May 1902. p. 5. template uses deprecated parameter(s) (help)
- ^ "No. 27470". The London Gazette. 2 September 1902. p. 5679.
- ^ "Foreign degrees for British men of Science". The Times. No. 36867. London. 8 September 1902. p. 4. template uses deprecated parameter(s) (help)
- ^ "Honorary doctorates from the University of Oslo 1902-1910". (in Norwegian)
- ^ "Current Banknotes : Clydesdale Bank". The Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers. Retrieved 15 October 2008.
- ^ "Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame". engineeringhalloffame.org. 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
- ^ Thompson, Silvanus (1910). The Life of William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs. Volume: 2. MacMillan and Co., Limited. p. 914.
Kelvin's works
- Thomson, W.; Tait, P.G. (1867). Treatise on Natural Philosophy. Oxford. 2nd edition, 1883. (reissued by ISBN 978-1-108-00537-1)
- Thomson, W.; Tait, P.G (1872). Elements of Natural Philosophy.
{{
ISBN 978-1-108-01448-9) 2nd edition, 1879. - Thomson, W. (1881). Shakespeare and Bacon on Vivisection. Sands & McDougall.
- Thomson, W.; Tait, P.G (1872). Elements of Natural Philosophy.
{{
ISBN 978-1-108-01448-9) 2nd edition, 1879. - Thomson, W. (1882–1911). Mathematical and Physical Papers. Cambridge University Press.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|authormask=
ignored (|author-mask=
suggested) (help) (6 volumes)- Volume I. 1841-1853 (Internet Archive)
- Volume II. 1853-1856 (Internet Archive)
- Volume III. Elasticity, heat, electro-magnetism (Internet Archive)
- Volume IV. Hydrodynamics and general dynamics (Hathitrust)
- Volume V. Thermodynamics, cosmical and geological physics, molecular and crystalline theory, electrodynamics (Internet Archive)
- Volume VI. Voltaic theory, radioactivity, electrions, navigation and tides, miscellaneous (Internet Archive)
- Thomson, W. (1904). Baltimore Lectures on Molecular Dynamics and the Wave Theory of Light.
{{
ISBN 978-1-108-00767-2) - Thomson, W. (1912). Collected Papers in Physics and Engineering. Cambridge University Press. ASIN B0000EFOL8.)
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|authormask=
ignored (|author-mask=
suggested) (help - Wilson, D.B. (ed.) (1990). The Correspondence Between Sir George Gabriel Stokes and Sir William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs. (2 vols), Cambridge University Press. )
- Hörz, H. (2000). Naturphilosophie als Heuristik?: Korrespondenz zwischen Hermann von Helmholtz und Lord Kelvin (William Thomson). Basilisken-Presse. ISBN 3-925347-56-9.
Biography, history of ideas and criticism
- Buchwald, J.Z. (1977). "William Thomson and the mathematization of Faraday's electrostatics". Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences. 8: 101–136. doi:10.2307/27757369.
- Burchfield, J.D. (1990). Lord Kelvin and the Age of the Earth. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-08043-9.
- Cardoso Dias, D.M. (1996). "William Thomson and the Heritage of Caloric". .
- Chang, H. (2004). Inventing Temperature: Measurement and Scientific Progress. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517127-6.
- Gooding, D. (1980). "Faraday, Thomson, and the concept of the magnetic field". British Journal of the History of Science. 13 (2): 91–120. .
- Gossick, B.R. (1976). "Heaviside and Kelvin: a study in contrasts". Annals of Science. 33 (3): 275–287. .
- Gray, A. (1908). Lord Kelvin: An Account of His Scientific Life and Work. London: J. M. Dent & Co.
- Green, G.; Lloyd, J.T. (1970). Kelvin's instruments and the Kelvin Museum. Glasgow: University of Glasgow. ISBN 0-85261-016-5.)
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|lastauthoramp=
ignored (|name-list-style=
suggested) (help - Kargon, R.H. & ISBN 0-262-11117-9.)
{{cite book}}
:|author=
has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - King, A.G. (1925). Kelvin the Man. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
- King, E.T. (1909). Lord Kelvin's Early Home. London: Macmillan.
- Knudsen, O. (1972). "From Lord Kelvin's notebook: aether speculations". Centaurus. 16: 41–53. .
- Lekner, J. (2012). "Nurturing genius: the childhood and youth of Kelvin and Maxwell" (PDF). New Zealand Science Review.
- Lindley, D. (2004). Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention and Tragedy. Joseph Henry Press. ISBN 0-309-09073-3.
- McCartney, M. & Whitaker, A. (eds) (2002). Physicists of Ireland: Passion and Precision. Institute of Physics Publishing. ISBN 0-7503-0866-4.)
{{cite book}}
:|author=
has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - May, W.E. (1979). "Lord Kelvin and his compass". Journal of Navigation. 32: 122–134. .
- Munro, J. (1891). Heroes of the Telegraph. London: Religious Tract Society.
- Murray, D. (1924). Lord Kelvin as Professor in the Old College of Glasgow. Glasgow: Maclehose & Jackson.
- Russell, A. (1912). Lord Kelvin: His Life and Work. London: T.C. & E.C.Jack. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
- Sharlin, H.I. (1979). Lord Kelvin: The Dynamic Victorian. Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0-271-00203-4.
- Smith, C.; Wise, M.N. (1989). Energy and Empire: A Biographical Study of Lord Kelvin. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-26173-2. Retrieved 25 March 2014.)
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|lastauthoramp=
ignored (|name-list-style=
suggested) (help - Thompson, S.P. (1910). Life of William Thomson: Baron Kelvin of Largs. London: Macmillan. In two volumes Volume 1 Volume 2
- Tunbridge, P. (1992). Lord Kelvin: His Influence on Electrical Measurements and Units. Peter Peregrinus: London. ISBN 0-86341-237-8.
- Wilson, D. (1910). William Thomson, Lord Kelvin: His Way of Teaching. Glasgow: John Smith & Son.
- Wilson, D.B. (1987). Kelvin and Stokes: A Comparative Study in Victorian Physics. Bristol: Hilger. ISBN 0-85274-526-5.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/34px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png)
- O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Lord Kelvin", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
- Works by or about Lord Kelvin at Internet Archive
- Works by Lord Kelvin at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Heroes of the Telegraph at The Online Books Page
- "Horses on Mars", from Lord Kelvin
- William Thomson: king of Victorian physics at Institute of Physics website
- Measuring the Absolute: William Thomson and Temperature, Hasok Chang and Sang Wook Yi (PDF file)
- Reprint of papers on electrostatics and magnetism (gallica)
- The molecular tactics of a crystal (Internet Archive)
- Quotations. This collection includes sources for many quotes.
- Kelvin Building Opening – The Leys School, Cambridge (1893)
- The Kelvin Library