author
Baron William Thomson Kelvin
1824–1907
Best known for giving the Kelvin temperature scale its name, this brilliant 19th-century scientist helped shape how we understand heat, energy, and electricity. His work also reached far beyond theory, improving instruments and playing a major part in the success of the transatlantic telegraph cable.
2 Audiobooks
The Molecular Tactics of a Crystal
by Baron William Thomson Kelvin
Reflections on the motive power of heat : and on machines fitted to develop that power
by Sadi Carnot, Baron William Thomson Kelvin
About the author
Born in Belfast on June 26, 1824, William Thomson became one of the leading physicists and engineers of the Victorian age. He spent more than fifty years at the University of Glasgow as professor of natural philosophy, building a reputation for clear mathematical thinking and an unusual ability to connect theory with practical invention.
He made major contributions to thermodynamics and the study of electricity, and his absolute temperature scale later became known simply as the Kelvin scale. Thomson also worked on real-world engineering problems, especially submarine telegraphy, and his improvements to signaling and measuring instruments helped make long-distance undersea communication more reliable.
In later life he was raised to the peerage as Baron Kelvin, taking the title from the River Kelvin that flows past the University of Glasgow. Remembered today as Lord Kelvin, he was one of those rare figures whose ideas changed both science itself and the technologies people used every day.