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KELVIN, WILLIAM THOMSON, BARON (1824-...

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 723 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KELVIN, See also:WILLIAM See also:THOMSON, See also:BARON (1824-1907) , See also:British physicist, the second son of See also:James Thomson, LL.D., See also:professor of See also:mathematics in the university of See also:Glasgow, was See also:born at See also:Belfast, See also:Ireland, on the 26th of See also:June 1824, his See also:father being then teacher of mathematics in the Royal Academical Institution. In 1832 James Thomson accepted the See also:chair of mathematics at Glasgow, and migrated thither with his two sons, James and William, who in 1834 matriculated in that university, William being then little more than ten years of See also:age, and having acquired all his See also:early See also:education through his father's instruction. In 1841 William Thomson entered Peterhouse, See also:Cambridge, and in 1845 took his degree as second wrangler, to which See also:honour he added that of the first See also:Smith's See also:Prize. The See also:senior wrangler in his See also:year was See also:Stephen See also:Parkinson, a See also:man of a very different type of mind, yet one who was a prominent figure in Cambridge for many years. In the same year Thomson was elected See also:fellow of Peterhouse. At that See also:time there were few facilities for the study of experimental See also:science in See also:Great See also:Britain. At the Royal Institution See also:Faraday held a unique position, and was feeling his way almost alone. In Cambridge science had progressed little since the days of See also:Newton. Thomson therefore had recourse to See also:Paris, and for a year worked in the laboratory of See also:Regnault, who was then engaged in his classical researches on the thermal properties of See also:steam. In 1846, when only twenty-two years of age, he accepted the chair of natural See also:philosophy in the university of Glasgow, which he filled for fifty-three years, attaining universal recognition as one of the greatest physicists of his time. The Glasgow chair was a source of See also:inspiration to scientific men for more than See also:half a See also:century, and many of the most advanced researches of other physicists See also:grew out of the suggestions which Thomson scattered as See also:sparks from his See also:anvil. One of his earliest papers dealt with the age of the See also:earth, and brought him into collision with the geologists of the Uniformitarian school, who were claiming thousands of millions of years for the formation of the stratified portions of the earth's crust.

Thomson's. calculations on the See also:

conduction of See also:heat showed that at some time between twenty millions and four See also:hundred millions, probably about one hundred millions, of years ago, the See also:physical conditions of the earth must have been entirely different from those which now obtain. This led to a See also:long controversy, in which the physical principles held their ground. In 1847 Thomson first met James See also:Prescott See also:Joule at the See also:Oxford See also:meeting of the British Association. A fortnight later they again met in See also:Switzerland, and together measured the rise of the temperature of the See also:water in a See also:mountain torrent due to its fall. JouIe's views of the nature of heat strongly influenced Thomson's mind, with the result that in 1848 Thomson proposed his See also:absolute See also:scale of temperature, which is See also:independent of the properties of any particular thermometric substance, and in 1851 he presented to the Royal Society of See also:Edinburgh a See also:paper on the dynamical theory of heat, which reconciled the See also:work of N. L. Sidi See also:Carnot with the conclusions of See also:Count See also:Rumford, See also:Sir H. See also:Davy, J. R. See also:Mayer and Joule, and placed the dynamical theory of heat and the fundamental principle of the conservation of See also:energy in a position to command universal See also:acceptance. It was in this paper' that the principle of the dissipation of energy, briefly summarized in the second See also:law of See also:thermodynamics, was first stated. Although his contributions to thermodynamics may properly be regarded as his most important scientific work, it is in the See also:field of See also:electricity, especially in its application to submarine telegraphy, that See also:Lord Kelvin is best known to the See also:world at large.

From 1854 he is most prominent among telegraphists. The stranded See also:

form of conductor was due to his See also:suggestion; but it was in the letters which he addressed in See also:November and See also:December of that year to Sir G. G. See also:Stokes, and which were published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society for 1855, that he discussed the mathematical theory of signalling through submarine cables, and enunciated the conclusion that in long cables the retardation due to capacity must render the See also:speed of signalling inversely proportional to the square of the See also:cable's length. Some held that if this were true ocean telegraphy would be impossible, and sought in consequence to disprove Thomson's conclusion. Thomson, on the other See also:hand, set to work to overcome the difficulty by improvement in the manufacture of cables, and first of all in the See also:production of See also:copper of high conductivity and the construction of apparatus which would readily See also:respond to the slightest variation of the current in the cable. The See also:mirror See also:galvanometer and the See also:siphon See also:recorder, which was patented in 1867, were the outcome of these researches; but the scientific value of the mirror galvanometer is independent of its use in telegraphy, and the siphon recorder is the See also:direct precursor of one form of galvanometer (d'See also:Arsonval's) now commonly used in See also:electrical laboratories. A mind like that of Thomson could not be content to See also:deal with any physical quantity, however successfully from a See also:practical point of view, without subjecting it to measurement. Thomson's work in connexion with telegraphy led to the production in rapid See also:succession of See also:instruments adapted to the requirements of the time for the measurement of every electrical quantity, and when electric See also:lighting came to the front a new set of instruments was produced to meet the needs of the electrical engineer. Some See also:account of Thomson's See also:electrometer is given in the See also:article on that subject, while every See also:modern work of importance on electric lighting describes the instruments which he has specially de-signed for central station work; and it may be said that there is no quantity which the electrical engineer is ordinarily called upon to measure for which Lord Kelvin did not construct the suitable See also:instrument. Currents from the ten-thousandth of an See also:ampere to ten thousand amperes, electrical pressures from a See also:minute fraction of a volt to See also:ioo,000 volts, come within the range of his instruments, while the private consumer of electric energy is provided with a See also:meter recording See also:Board of See also:Trade See also:units. When W.

See also:

Weber in 1851 proposed the See also:extension of C. F. See also:Gauss's See also:system of absolute units to See also:electromagnetism, Thomson took up the question, and, applying the principles of energy, calculated the absolute electromotive force of a See also:Daniell See also:cell, and determined the absolute measure of the resistance of a See also:wire from the heat produced in it by a known current. In 1861 it was Thomson who induced the British Association to appoint its first famous See also:committee for the determination of electrical See also:standards, and it was he who suggested much of the work carried out by J. Clerk See also:Maxwell, See also:Balfour See also:Stewart and Fleeming Jenkin as members of that committee. The oscillatory See also:character of the See also:discharge of the See also:Leyden See also:jar, the See also:foundation of the work of H. R. See also:Hertz and of wireless telegraphy were investigated by him in 1853. It was in 1873 that he undertook to write a See also:series of articles for See also:Good Words on the mariner's See also:compass. He wrote the first, but so many questions arose in his mind that it was five years beforethe second appeared. In the meanwhile the compass went through a See also:process of See also:complete reconstruction in his hands a process which enabled both the permanent and the temporary See also:magnetism of the See also:ship to be readily compensated, while the See also:weight of the ro-in. card was reduced to one-seventeenth of that of the See also:standard card previously in use, although the time of See also:swing was increased. Second only to the compass in its value to the sailor is Thomson's See also:sounding apparatus, whereby soundings can be taken in too fathoms by a ship steaming at 16 knots; and by the employment of piano-wire of a, breaking strength of 140 tons per square See also:inch and an See also:iron sinker weighing only 34 lb, with a self-registering pressure See also:gauge, soundings can be rapidly taken in deep ocean.

Thomson's See also:

tide gauge, tidal See also:harmonic analyser and tide predicter are famous, and among his work in the See also:interest of See also:navigation must be mentioned his tables for the simplification of See also:Sumner's method for determining the position of a ship at See also:sea. It is impossible within brief limits to convey more than a See also:general See also:idea of the work of a philosopher who published more than three hundred See also:original papers bearing upon nearly every See also:branch of physical science; who one See also:day was working out the mathematics of a vortex theory of See also:matter on hydrodynamical principles or discovering the limitations of the capabilities of the vortex See also:atom, on another was applying the theory of See also:elasticity to tides in the solid earth, or was calculating the See also:size of water molecules, and later was designing an electricity meter, a See also:dynamo or a domestic water-tap. It is only by reference to his published papers that any approximate conception can be formed of his See also:life's work; but the student who had read all these knew comparatively little of Lord Kelvin if he had not talked with him See also:face to face. Extreme modesty, almost amounting to diffidence, was combined with the utmost kindliness in Lord Kelvin's bearing to the most elementary student, and nothing seemed to give him so much See also:pleasure as an opportunity to acknowledge the efforts of the humblest scientific worker. The progress of physical See also:discovery during the last half of the 19th century was perhaps as much due to the kindly encouragement which he gave to his students and to others who came in contact with him as to his own researches and inventions; and it would be difficult to speak of his See also:influence as a teacher in stronger terms than this. One of his former pupils, Professor J. D. Cormack, wrote of him: " It is perhaps at the lecture table that Lord Kelvin displays most of his characteristics. . . . His See also:master mind, soaring high, See also:sees one vast connected whole, and, alive with See also:enthusiasm, with smiling • face and sparkling See also:eye, he shows the See also:panorama to his pupils, pointing out the similarities and See also:differences of its parts, the boundaries of our knowledge, and the regions of doubt and See also:speculation. To follow him in his flights is real See also:mental exhilaration." In 1852 Thomson married See also:Margaret, daughter of See also:Walter Crum of Thornliebank, who died in 1870; and in 1874 he married Frances See also:Anna, daughter of See also:Charles R. Blandy of See also:Madeira.

In 1866, perhaps chiefly in See also:

acknowledgment of his services to trans-See also:Atlantic telegraphy, Thomson received the honour of See also:knighthood, and in 1892 he was raised to the See also:peerage with the See also:title of Baron Kelvin of See also:Largs. The See also:Grand See also:Cross of the Royal Victorian See also:Order was conferred on him in 1896, the year of the See also:jubilee of his professoriate. In ago he became See also:president of the Royal Society, and he received the Order of Merit on its institution in 1902. A See also:list of the degrees and other honours which he received during the fifty-three years he held his Glasgow chair would occupy as much space as this article; but any See also:biographical See also:sketch would be conspicuously incomplete if it failed to See also:notice the celebration in 1896 of the jubilee of his professorship. Never before had such a gathering of See also:rank and science assembled as that which filled the halls in the university of Glasgow on the 15th, 16th and 17th of June in that year. The See also:city authorities joined with the university in honouring their most distinguished See also:citizen. About 2500 guests were received in the university buildings, the library of which was devoted to an See also:exhibition of the instruments invented by Lord Kelvin, together with his certificates, diplomas and medals. The Eastern, the Anglo-See also:American and the Commercial Cable companies See also:united to celebrate the event, and from the university library a See also:message was sent through See also:Newfoundland, New See also:York, See also:Chicago, See also:San Francisco, Los Angeles, New See also:Orleans, See also:Florida and See also:Washington, and was received by Lord Kelvin seven and a half minutes after it had been despatched, having travelled about 20,000 See also:miles and twice crossed the Atlantic during the See also:interval. It was at the banquet in connexion with the jubilee celebration that the Lord See also:Provost of Glasgow thus summarized Lord Kelvin's character: " His See also:industry is unwearied; and he seems to take See also:rest by turning from one difficulty to another—difficulties that would appal most men and be taken as enjoyment by no one else. . . . This life of unwearied industry, of universal honour, has See also:left Lord Kelvin with a lovable nature that charms all with whom he comes in contact." Three years after this celebration Lord Kelvin resigned his chair at Glasgow, though by formally matriculating as a student he maintained his connexion with the university, of which in 1904 he was elected See also:chancellor. But his retirement did not mean cessation of active work or any slackening of interest in the scientific thought of the day.

Much of his time was given to See also:

writing and revising the lectures on the See also:wave theory of See also:light which he had delivered at Johns See also:Hopkins University, See also:Baltimore, in 1884, but which were not finally published till 1904. He continued to take See also:part in the proceedings of various learned See also:societies; and only a few months before his See also:death, at the See also:Leicester meeting of the British Association, he attested the keenness with which he followed the current developments of scientific speculation by delivering a long and searching address on the electronic theory of matter. He died on the 17th of December 1907 at his See also:residence, Netherhall, near Largs, See also:Scotland; there was no See also:heir to his title, which became See also:extinct. In addition to the Baltimore lectures, he published with Professor P. G. See also:Tait a standard but unfinished See also:Treatise on Natural Philosophy (1867). A number of his scientific papers were collected in his Reprint of Papers on Electricity and Magnetism (1872), and in his Mathematical and Physical Papers (1882, 1883 and 1890), and three volumes of his Popular Lectures and Addresses appeared in 1889-1894. He was also the author of the articles on " Heat " and " Elasticity " in the 9th edition of the See also:Encyclopaedia Britannica. See See also:Andrew See also:Gray, Lord Kelvin (1908); S. P. See also:Thompson, Life of Lord Kelvin (1910), which contains a full bibliography of his writings. (W.

G.; H. M.

End of Article: KELVIN, WILLIAM THOMSON, BARON (1824-1907)

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