William Thomson : “Lord Kelvin”

            William Thomson was born in Belfast, Ireland on June 26, 1824.  A long, productive, and universally expansive life was only beginning.  William’s father James would be the one to lay the foundations that would interest William in a broad range of the sciences.  William would change the way we look at the world.

            James Thomson, William’s father became the Overseer of Science at the University of Glasgow.  When William was only 6 his mother, Margaret, died.  While this caused quite a stir in his family, it brought William closer to his father.

It was at the University of Glasgow that William would be educated, and eventually work at.  William enrolled at the University of Glasgow at age eleven, and had written a published work on mathematics when he was a mere teen.

When William came into his own he became quite the inventor.  In fact, Thomson patented 70 inventions in his lifetime, as well as had 661 papers on science published (Olsen, Richard G.).  One invention, as well as his dedication to the project, resulted in him being Knighted by Queen Elizabeth of England.

Thomson was intrigued by the field of thermodynamics.  He had read the works of Carnot, a French physicist who developed a theory stating that energy cannot be destroyed, and related pressure, energy, and temperature, and immediately began wondering about the possibility of absolute zero (People: Sadi Carnot).

Thomson’s great achievement that got him Knighted was the Trans-Atlantic Cable, a telegraph line that connected England with Washington DC.  Without Thomson’s improvements on the cable, as well as the receiver device he devised, the cable would have not been successful.  It was only one of two major breakthroughs Thomson was responsible for.  Thomson became Lord Kelvin.

The second breakthrough is why his name is still known so well today.  While we don’t wake up in the morning and hear the temperature in Kelvin, most people are familiar with the scale.  Thomson was to be first to comprehend absolute zero, and as a result, develop the Kelvin scale.

Thomson also weighed in on the field of Astronomy.  He hypothesized that Earth had originated from the sun, and had been cooling off over a long period of time.  He also hypothesized that the Universe had a finite amount of energy, that would eventually run thin as it became too spread out (Asimov, Isaac).  These hypotheses are still controversial today.

Thomson lived in an age where science fiction was only starting to come to life.  Events were taking place around the world as the minds of all human kind began to thrive like they never had before.  Thomson had a huge hand in shaping the world.

Technologies were beginning to explode onto the scene everywhere.  If it wasn’t for the invention of the long-distance telegraph by K.F. Gauss and Wilhelm E. Weber, Thomson could never have improved upon it to make the Atlantic Cable.  Alexander Grahm Bell’s invention, the telephone, was introduced to Great Britain by Thomson himself.

Transportation thrived during Thomson’s life as well.  The first battery powered trains were invented.  The S.S. Brandon became the first ship with compound expansion engines.  The world was becoming smaller.

With the world getting smaller, Industry thrived as well.  The sewing machine was first built, and Heinrich Goebel invented the first light bulb.  Thomas Edison later invented the first practical light bulb, and Thomson was around then too.  Alfred Nobel also contributed to the world of industry, he invented dynamite.

During Thomson’s life several great scientists/inventors worked to change the world.  Some of these scientists were Thomas Edison, Practical light bulbs, and phonograph, J.W. Swan, worked with Thomas Edison to event electrical lamps, and Alexander Grahm Bell, who changed the world with the invention of the telephone.

Thomson came from a time of expansion in other fields as well, including the arts.  He lived during the time of John Constable, an English landscape painter, and Claude Monet, a French painter.  Music thrived as well, opera came into its own.  Mendelssohn and Verdi are just two of the great Composers from the time of William Thomson.

Politically the world was changing as well.  In the Western Hemisphere, the United States went through two major conflicts.  First the Mexican-American war ended with the United States capturing Mexico City.  Later during Thomson’s life, The United States was engulfed in the Civil War.  In Thomson’s own neck of the woods conflict was peaking as well.  Great Britain and France put aside their differences and declared war on Russia.

The borders of the world were increasingly defined as well.  Iowa became a state in 1846, and Wisconsin became a state in 1848.  Liberia gained its independence in 1847.  Still it was the people of the world that truly defined it.

Several great world leaders lived during this time as well.  The great Abraham Lincoln gave the Emancipation Proclamation, while the Czar Nicholas I ruled over Russia.  Of course Queen Victoria of Great Britain knighted Thomson.

Thomson was married twice during his life.  His first wife, childhood friend Margaret Crum died on June 17, 1870 (Significant Scots).  His second wife was Frances Blandy, whom he married in 1874.  He did not have children with either wife.

Even with all the world full of new and exciting breakthroughs, many of which including Thomson, his time would soon be over.  William Thomson, the Lord Kelvin died in Largs, Ayr on December 17, 1907.  He had began a great age of science discoveries, and contributed much to its momentum.  His discoveries in the field of thermodynamics have stood the test of time, but still today cannot be completely tested.

Bibliography

Asimov, Isaac. “Kelvin, William Thomson.” Asimov’s Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology.  Garden City: Doubleday and Company, 1964.

Grun, Bernard.  The Timetables of History.  New York: Touchstone Book, 1975.

Lambert, Frank.  A Student’s Approach to The Second Law and Entropy.  2006.  2 Feb. 2006  <http://www.entropysite.com/students_approach.html>.

Lord Kelvin’s Birthday.  2005.  Vision Learning. 2 Feb. 2006  <http://web.visionlearning.com/events/kelvin_June26_2005.htm>.

Lord Kelvin: William Thomson.  1998.  Institute of Physics: Belgrade, Serbia.  2 Feb. 2006  <http://www.phy.bg.ac.yu/web_projects/giants/kelvin.html>.

Olsen, Richard G.  “Kelvin, Lord Thomson.”  The World Book Encyclopedia.  2002 ed.

People: Sadi Carnot.  1998.  University of Michigan.  2 Feb. 2006  <http://www.windows.ucar.edu/people/enlightenment/carnot.html>.

Significant Scots: William Thomson.  Electric Scotland.  2 Feb. 2006  <http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/william_thomson.htm>.

Temperature Kelvin Scale.  2001.  University of Michigan.  2 Feb. 2006  <http://www.windows.ucar.edu/earth/Atmosphere/temperature/kelvin.html>.

What is Absolute Zero.  1992.  Michigan State University.  2 Feb. 2006  <http://www.pa.msu.edu/sciencet/ask_st/012992.html>.