William Thomson, Baron Kelvin
1824–1907
Scientist and inventor. Professor of natural philosophy, Glasgow, 1846–99. Formulated laws of equivalence and transformation in thermodynamics and a doctrine of available energy. Pioneered telegraphic systems and assisted in the laying of the first transatlantic cable. Wrote on the age and cooling of the earth. Proposed a hydroelectric scheme for Niagara. Created Baron Kelvin of Largs, 1892. FRS 1851. Awarded the Copley Medal, 1883.
Sources
DSB
ODNB.
Bibliography
DSB: Dictionary of scientific biography. Edited by Charles Coulston Gillispie and Frederic L. Holmes. 18 vols. including index and supplements. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1970–90.
ODNB: Oxford dictionary of national biography: from the earliest times to the year 2000. (Revised edition.) Edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. 60 vols. and index. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004.
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