William Thomson 1824 - 1907
William Thomson , 2nd son of 7 children. of Largs. 1849- introduced the term "thermodynamics" to designate the field in which he and his brother were interested. "William Thomson (Lord Kelvin of Largs) 1824 - 1907 Lord Kelvin of Largs Ã1995-2003 Gazetteer for Scotland Mathematician and Physicist. Brought up in Scotland, although born in Ireland. He attended Glasgow and Cambridge Universities, before accepting the Chair in Natural Philosophy at Glasgow (1846), which he held for 53 years. Kelvin was one of the most outstanding scientists of his day. He is perhaps best known for the absolute temperature scale which takes his name (Kelvin), but the majority of his work investigated energy, electricity and magnetism. His work allowed the first transatlantic cable to be laid in the mid-19th century, and indeed he became wealthy as a consultant to the company involved. Other work involved the calculation of the age of the earth, based on heat-loss, but ignoring the effects of radio-active heating which had not been discovered at this time. The age he calculated (400 million years) was older than many had suggested, but not old enough for Darwin's Theory of Evolution to operate, and hence Kelvin opposed this theory. Kelvin was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1866, and raised to the peerage in 1892. He died on his estate near Largs, and is buried in Westminster Abbey." Also related: National Library of Scotland: 1995 Accessions # Bottomley and Barlow families, scientists and engineers, Belfast and Glasgow: records, incl letters of their kinsman, William Thomson, Lord Kelvin 1843-1924 (Acc 11263)
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Born: College sq, Belfast, Antrim, , Ireland 26th Jun 1824 | Baptised:
| Died: Largs, , , , Scotland 17th Nov 1907 | Buried: Westminster Abbey, London, , , England 1907
| Family: Thomson |
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