Lord kelvin real name
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Lord Kelvin (1824-1907)
Famous for:
- Devising the absolute temperature scale, now called the 'Kelvin scale'
- Formulating the second law of thermodynamics
- Working to install telegraph cables under the Atlantic.
Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) was an eminent physicist with a wide range of interests and enthusiasms.
Best remembered for his talent for theoretical mathematics, he also had a practical ability for solving problems. Thanks to his persistence and ingenuity, the first telegraph cable was successfully installed under the Atlantic Ocean.
Early life and education
William Thomson was born at 21-25 College Square East in Belfast in 1824. This location was later home to the first cinema in Belfast – 'the Kelvin'.
Lord Kelvin's father became Professor of Mathematics at Glasgow University. Kelvin attended university classes from the age of 10. He wrote his first scientific paper, under the pseudonym 'PQR', aged only 16.
In his teens he learned French well enough to read the work of eminent French mathematician Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier. Philip Kelland, Prof
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Lord Kelvin 1824-1907
Early life and education
Professor William Thomson, later Baron Kelvin of Largs, was born in Belfast, Ireland, 26 June 1824 and died in Largs, Scotland 17 December 1907. His life and career was one of academic excellence, innovation and pioneering achievements. This short biography cannot do justice to Thomson’s many accomplishments but can help to highlight and celebrate a life that was an inspiration to many.
Thomson’s introduction to this world came at an early age. His father, James Thomson, was Professor of Mathematics at the Academical Institution, Belfast and then in 1832 was appointed to the Chair of Mathematics at the University of Glasgow. He welcomed his sons to lectures and Thomson, being an extraordinary child, matriculated from the University of Glasgow at age 10. His academic prowess did not stop there.
In 1841, aged seventeen, Thomson was admitted to St Peter's College, Cambridge. His undergraduate achievements were not solely academic: he also founded the Peterhouse Musical Society and won the Colquhoun silver sculls for rowing. By 1
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William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) (1824 - 1907):
Mathematician and physicist
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William Thomson was born in College Square East, Belfast on 26 June 1824. He was educated at Glasgow University from the age of eleven and at Peterhouse, Cambridge. In 1846 he became Professor of Natural Philosophy at Glasgow, a post which he held for fifty-three years. He discovered the second law of thermo-dynamics, but also carried out considerable research on electric currents which was to prove invaluable in submarine telegraphy and accounted for the success of the Atlantic cables. He also devised a more accurate way of determining the size of the earth. He invented depth-sounding apparatus, tide gauges, a new type of ship's compass, and instruments for measuring electricity. In 1866 he was given a knighthood. In 1892 he was created Baron Kelvin of Largs, and in 1902 received the Order of Merit. An exhibition of his inventions in 1896 attended by prominent international scientists was held as part of his fifty years' service as professor. He wrote prolifically and his
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