Introduction to Kelvin

1824

William Thomson was born in Belfast to a middle-class Irish-Scottish family. His father, James Thomson was Professor of Mathematics at the Royal Belfast Academical Institute. Young William's mother, Margaret died in 1830 and his father took the family of six children to Glasgow in 1832. Here the Thomson family would find fame and fortune. James Thomson gained the prestigious post of Professor of Mathematics at the University of Glasgow. In 1834 William and his elder brother James matriculated as students at the University of Glasgow. In the 1838-39 session, William and James took 1st and 2nd prize in Natural Philosophy. In the 1839-40 session, William gained the class prize in Astronomy and was awarded a medal for an essay On the Figure of the Earth.

"So on the 1st of May (1840), the very day when the prizes were given, I took Fourier (The Analytical Theory of Heat) out of the University Library; and in a fortnight I had mastered it - gone right through it."

1841

William Thomson made his entry as a student to Peterhouse College, University of Cambridge. During three years as an undergraduate William published 12 papers in the Cambridge Mathematical Journal. William used Joseph Fourier's principle of formulating mathematically sound arguements to explain phenomena, such as the flow of heat and the geometry of electric fields. He was coached by the energetic mathematician William Hopkins. In 1843, he took up rowing and excelled, winning the Colquhoun Cup. He enjoyed music and was one of the founders of the Cambridge University Musical Society. In 1845 the results of the Mathematics Tripos examinations were announced. William Thomson was Second Wrangler - disappointment indeed, he had expected to be first. Nevertheless he won the Smith's prize for mathematical physics.

1845

After graduating BA with Honours, William Thomson and his friend Hugh Blackburn headed for London and then on to the exciting city of Paris. He befriended Joseph Liouville who encouraged him to bring together the electrical theory ideas of Faraday, Coulomb and Poisson. William met some of the important French mathematicians and scientists including Victor Regnault. William worked as a research assistant in Regnault's laboratory on the efficiency of steam engines. In the same year William Thomson discovered George Green's Essay from 1828 on the Application of Mathematical Analysis to the Theories of Electricity and Magnetism. Green and Fourier's approach become central to Thomson's methodology. On returning to Cambridge, William Thomson was elected as a Fellow of Peterhouse College.

1846

On the death of Professor William Meikleham, William Thomson was elected Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow. At the early age of 22, with youthful enthusiasm, he took up his post at the fine old 17th century College on the High Street. He was elected a member of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow. From 1847, Professor William Thomson formed a lasting partnership with George Stokes exploring hydrodynamics. Thomson applied their findings to electrical and atomic theory. In the same year he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He introduced laboratory work into his undergraduate degree courses and set up a physics laboratory specifically for this purpose. Also he encouraged the best students by giving prizes.

"A very young but ardent natural philosopher."

1848

Professor William Thomson introduced his Absolute Temperature Scale founded on Sadi Carnot's Theory of the Motive Power of Heat. He continued to publish important physics papers on the Dynamical Theory of Heat and was instrumental in establishing the Laws of Thermodynamics. Sadly in 1849, William Thomson's father, Professor James Thomson, died during a devastating cholera epidemic in Glasgow. In 1850 the instrument maker James White set up business in Glasgow and proceeded to manufacture Thomson's inventions. In 1851 Thomson was elected to the Royal Society.

1852

Thomson in collaboration with John Prescott Joule discovered the Joule-Thomson Effect. In September 1852, Professor William Thomson, at the age of 28, married Margaret Crum, the daughter of Walter Crum, the head of a printing firm. Margaret would suffer poor health for most of her life. In 1854, Thomson along with his brother James and William Rankine produced a patent for improvements in telegraphic communications. This was the first of Thomson's many patents.

1857

Visionary entrepreneurs in the USA and UK dreamed of an Atlantic telegraph cable linking America with Europe. As a director of the new Atlantic Telegraph Company, Prof. Thomson volunteered his services as an "electrician" on board HMS Agamemnon and USS Niagara. Unfortunately the first attempt failed and a new expedition was launced in 1858. Despite many problems a submarine cable was eventually laid linking Valencia in Ireland with Newfoundland. Armed with his new invention, the mirror galvanometer, Prof. Thomson was able to detect the faint electrical pulses travelling through the great length of cable. Within a months the cable failed. The onset of the American Civil War in 1861 brought to an end any hopes of an Atlantic cable - at least for the time being. Meanwhile, Thomson set up partnerships with Fleeming Jenkin and Cromwell Fleetwood Varley to produce telegraphic communication equipment. Royalties from patents exceeded all expectations.

" Science is bound, by the everlasting vow of honour, to face fearlessly every problem which can be fairly presented to it."

1865

The end of the American Civil War in 1865 brought renewed interest in an Atlantic telegraph cable. As a consultant to the Atlantic Telegraph Company, William Thomson boarded the Great Eastern, the greatest steamship in the World. Equiped with new technology and valuable experience of the previous catastrophic expeditions he was now intent on success. However this expedition was also doomed to failure when the cable broke and the attempt abandoned.

1866

A new expedition was launched from Valencia Bay to lay the Atlantic cable once again using the Great Eastern. Success at last, on the 26th July the final link was made at Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. This heralded a new age of worldwide communication technology. At Windsor Castle in 1866, Professor William Thomson was knighted by Queen Victoria as a reward for his participation in laying the Atlantic telegraph cable and service to science. Sir William Thomson in partnership with Peter Guthrie Tait published a Treatise on Natural Philosophy in 1867. Tait was Professor of Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh University.

1870

Glasgow University moved to its splendid new Gilmorehill Building. Meanwhile the Old College in the High Street was demolished. During the 1870's Thomson produced successful patents for improvements in telegraphic equipment, mariner's compasses and navigational sounding apparatus. He purchased a large yacht, the Lalla Rookh, that he used as a floating laboratory to test his marine navigational inventions. On 17th June 1870, Sir William's wife, Lady Margaret Thomson died after 17 years of a debilitating illness. He was elected as president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1871. In 1874 in Maderia, Sir William married Francis Anna Blandy who become Lady Thomson. Also in 1874, Sir William commissioned the building of a country mansion, Netherhall, in Largs, Scotland. In 1876 he was awarded the Matteucci Medal by the Italian Society of Sciences based at San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome.

1884

Sir William Thomson travelled to the John Hopkins University in the USA to give his Baltimore Lectures, a series of 20 lectures on Molecular Dynamics and the Wave Theory of Light. In the 1880's Sir William developed and patented electrical apparatus and instrumentation in response to the demands of the rapidly expanding electrical supply industry. In 1884 Thomson's instrument maker, James White, died but Sir William raised the capital to expand and equip the business in Cambridge Street, Glasgow.

1892

Sir William Thomson was given a peerage by Queen Victoria. The title bestowed on him was Lord Kelvin, Baron of Largs. Lord Kelvin received a great number of distinctions from throughout the world. He continued to develop and patent electrical measurement instrumentation. In 1896, the Crown honoured him with the Knight Grand Cross of the Victorian Order.

" One thing we may prophesy of the future for certain -- it will be unlike the past. Everything is in a state of evolution and progress."

1899

After 53 years, Lord Kelvin retired from his post as Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow. He concentrated his efforts on his patents and business. In 1900 the firm of Kelvin and James White Ltd. was founded. He manufactured binnacle compasses and deep-sea sounding machines. These were installed in many of the great ships that were built on Clydeside.

" This time next year,—this time ten years,—this time one hundred years,—probably it will be just as easy as we think it is to understand that glass of water, which now seems so plain and simple. I cannot doubt but that these things, which now seem to us so mysterious, will be no mysteries at all; that the scales will fall from our eyes; that we shall learn to look on things in a different way—when that which is now a difficulty will be the only commonsense and intelligible way of looking at the subject."

1907

Lord Kelvin passed away at his home in his beloved Largs, Scotland. His remains were placed in Westminster Abbey, London next to the resting place of Sir Isaac Newton. Arguably, Lord Kelvin was one the most powerful and influential scientists of the 19th century. Newton had the 17th and Einstein the 20th century. Kelvin produced an astonishing 661 scientific publications and 70 patents. The application of his 19th century theory continues to generate new inventions particularly in the emerging science of cryogenics. Kelvin's name is remembered in his temperature scale, in cloud formations in the sky (Kelvin-Helmholtz Clouds) and in waves on the water of the seas and oceans (Kelvin Waves).

"Overwhelming strong proofs of intelligent and benevolent design lie around us."