WILLIAM THOMSON: BIOGRAPHY, CONTRIBUTIONS AND INVENTIONS, WORKS - ARTE - 2024

William Thomson (1824-1907) was a British physicist and mathematician born in Belfast (Ireland). Also known as Lord Kelvin for the title of nobility granted for his contributions to science, he is considered one of the British scholars who contributed most to the development of physics.

Thomson held a post as Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow for most of his life, despite continual job offers from other more reputable educational institutions. From that position, the scientist gave a decisive impulse to experimental studies, then little appreciated.

William Thomson, Lord Kelvin - Source: «Photo by Messrs. Dickinson, London, New Bond Street »(according to

His main achievements include the establishment of an absolute heat scale that bears his name: the Kelvin scale. In addition, he published some studies on the systems of measurement units and patented measuring devices such as the galvanometer. Likewise, it helped to perfect transmissions through submarine cables.

All these works earned him the award of the title of Baron Kelvin. Thomson also became the first scientist to serve in the House of Lords. His death occurred in December 1907 and he was buried next to Isaac Newton, in Westminster Abbey.

Biography

William Thomson, also known as Lord Kelvin, came into the world on June 26, 1824 in Belfast, Ireland. The future scientist was orphaned of a mother when he was only six years old. His father, James Thomson, was a mathematics teacher and from a very early age instilled in his son an interest in the subject.

According to biographers, the relationship between William and his father was very close and was marked by the dominant character of the father.

Studies

At the age of 10, William began his studies at the University of Glasgow, where his father taught. There he began to stand out for his mathematical knowledge and managed to win several academic awards.

The family moved to Cambridge in 1841 and Thomson entered the local university to study science until his graduation in 1845.

After completing that stage in his studies, Thomson spent a year in Paris. In the French capital, Thomson began working in the laboratory of physicist and chemist Henri-Victor Regnault. His intention was to gain experience in putting his theoretical knowledge to practical use.

Professor in Glasgow

The influence of his father was decisive so that, in 1846, William Thomson achieved the chair of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow. The position had become vacant and James launched a campaign for his son to be chosen to fill it.

In this way, at only 22 years old, the scientist was unanimously chosen as a professor. Thomson held the chair throughout his career despite offers from Cambridge University as his prestige grew.

At first, the future Lord Kelvin did not find a good reception to his classes. At that time, experimental studies were not very well regarded in Britain and the lack of students almost meant that classes were not taught.

However, one of Thomson's merits was to change that consideration. His discoveries and his good work caused his teachings to acquire great prestige and that, for 50 years, his class became an inspiration for the country's scientists.

Private life

William Thomson married Margaret Crum, his young love, in 1852. The young woman's health began to deteriorate already during the honeymoon and did not improve during the 17 years that the marriage lasted.

Four years after Margaret Crum passed away, Thomson remarried. His second wife was Frances Blandy.

Last years

William Thomson received the title of knighthood in 1866, after he participated in the installation of the first submarine communications cable. Later, in 1892, he obtained the title of baron and began to use the name of another branch of his family, the Kelvin of Largs. For that reason, he has gone down to posterity as Lord Kelvin.

Lord Kelvin rejected Cambridge University's offer to occupy the chair of physics on three occasions. The first time was in 1871, while the last occurred in 1884. His intention was always to finish his career in Glasgow.

The scientist had a prominent participation in the International Exhibition of Electricity that took place in Paris in 1881. During the event, he showed some of his inventions, including the galvanometer. In addition, he was one of the speakers at a congress that tried to create a system of units of measure for electricity common throughout the world.

In the early 1990s, Thomson was elected to the presidency of the Royal Society. In 1860, he received the Grand Cross of the order of Queen Victoria on the occasion of his golden anniversary with the chair of the University of Glasgow.

Already in 1899, at the age of 75, Lord Kelvin left the chair, although he continued to attend classes as a listener.

Death

An accident that occurred on an ice rink left Thomson with damage to his leg, which affected his mobility and limited his work. From that moment on, the scientist spent most of his time collaborating with his religious community.

William Thomson died on December 17, 1907, in Netherhall, Scotland. His grave is located next to that of Isaac Newton, in Westminster Abbey.

Scientific contributions and inventions

The scientific field on which William Thomson focused the most was physics. Among his most important discoveries are his work on thermodynamics, which led to the establishment of absolute zero.

On the other hand, his inclination for experimental science made him participate in the laying of the first submarine cable dedicated to communications.

Absolute zero

One of the fundamental encounters in Thomson's scientific career took place in 1847. That year, during a scientific meeting in Oxford, he met James Prescott Joule, a French scholar who had been experimenting with heat as a source of energy for years.

Joule's ideas had not found much support among his colleagues until Thomson began to consider them. Thus, the British scientist collected some of Joule's theories and created a thermodynamic scale to measure temperature.

This scale had an absolute character, so it was independent of the devices and substances used to measure it. The discovery was named after its author: the Kelvin scale.

Thomson's calculations led him to calculate what he called absolute zero or zero degrees on the Kelvin scale. The temperature in question is -273.15º Celsius or 459.67º Fahrenheit. Unlike these last two scales, Kelvin's is used almost exclusively in the field of science.

Dynamic theory of heat

Lord Kelvin continued his studies on thermodynamics during the following years. In 1851 he presented to the Royal Society of Edinburgh an essay called the Dynamic Theory of Heat, in which the principle of energy dissipation appeared, one of the bases of the second law of thermodynamics.

Measurement units

Another field in which Thomson showed great interest was in units of measurement systems. His first contributions to this matter occurred in 1851, when he reformed the existing hypotheses about Gaussian units in electromagnetism.

Ten years later, Lord Kelvin was part of a committee to unify the units of measurement related to electricity.

Estimated age of the Earth

Not all the research done by Thomson turned out to be good. This is the case, for example, of his attempt to calculate the age of the Earth.

Part of his mistake was due to his status as a fervent follower of Christianity. As a believer, Lord Kelvin was a supporter of creationism and this was noted in his studies on the age of the planet.

However, Thomson did not limit himself to quoting the Bible, but used science to try to prove its truth. In this case, the scientist maintained that the laws of thermodynamics allowed us to affirm that the Earth had been an incandescent body millions of years ago.

Thomson believed that Darwin's calculations of when the Earth had become habitable were not accurate. For Lord Kelvin, contrary to the theory of evolution, the planet was much younger, which would make it impossible for the evolution of species to have developed.

Finally, their work, based on temperature, concluded that the Earth was between 24 and 100 million years old, a far cry from the more than 4.5 billion years currently estimated.

Telegraphy and submarine cable

As noted, Lord Kelvin showed from the beginning of his career a great inclination towards the practical application of scientific discoveries.

One of the fields in which he tried to put some of his research into practice was that of telegraphy. Her first work on the subject was published in 1855 and, the following year, she became part of the board of The Atlantic Telegraph Co, a company dedicated to this matter and that had the project of laying the first telegraph cable to cross the ocean. between America and Europe.

Lord Kelvin was not very involved in this first attempt to install the cable, but he did embark on the expedition that set out in 1857 to lay it. The project ended in failure after having stretched more than 300 nautical miles of it.

Galvanometer

Despite the failure, Thomson continued to work on the issue when he returned from the expedition. His research focused on improving the instruments used in the cable, especially in developing a receiver with more sensitivity to detect the signals emitted by the ends of the cable.

The result was the mirror galvanometer, which amplified the signal so that these extremes were always located.

Apart from the galvanometer, Thomson also conducted experiments to ensure that the copper used as a conductor in the cable was of the highest quality.

Second try cable

The second attempt to lay the submarine cable was made during the summer of 1858. Thomson rejoined the expedition and boarded the British ship Agamemnon. On this occasion, the scientist was appointed as head of the test laboratory.

At the beginning of August of the same year, the cable was fully laid along the ocean. After this, they began to prove that the telegrams arrived from one continent to the other successfully.

Although the first tests were positive, in September the signal began to fail. In October, the telegrams stopped coming.

Third project

Six years after the signal was completely lost, Thomson participated in a new attempt to connect Europe and America by telegraph.

The new project began in 1864, although it was not until the summer of the following year that the expedition set out with the aim of laying a new cable. However, when almost 1,200 miles had been laid, the cable broke and the expedition had to be postponed for another year.

Already in 1866, with Thomson again among the components of the expedition, the objective could be achieved.

Thomson's interest in this topic did not remain with his participation in these expeditions. As early as 1865, he had partnered with an engineer to create various projects to establish new submarine cables, as well as to exploit patents for the scientist's inventions.

Among his successes was the telegraphic link between Brest, in France, and the island of Saint Pierre, near Newfoundland.

Other inventions and contributions

Thomson's work with the submarine cable had a lot to do with the great interest that the scientist had always shown in the sea.

In 1870, he acquired his own yacht, which he used both as a second home and for various experiments. These led to him developing inventions such as a new kind of compass or various probing devices.

In addition to the above, Thomson participated as a jury in several conferences in which inventions were presented. He also wrote the reports to award some of those awards, including the one awarded to Alexander G. Bell and his telephone.

Plays

- Thomson, W.; Tait, PG (1867). Treatise on Natural Philosophy. Oxford 2nd edition, 1883.

- Thomson, W.; Tait, PG (1872). Elements of Natural Philosophy.

- Thomson, W. (1882–1911). Mathematical and Physical Papers. (6 vols) Cambridge University Press.

- Thomson, W. (1904). Baltimore Lectures on Molecular Dynamics and the Wave Theory of Light.

- Thomson, W. (1912). Collected Papers in Physics and Engineering. Cambridge University Press.

- Wilson, DB (ed.) (1990). The Correspondence Between Sir George Gabriel Stokes and Sir William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs. (2 vols), Cambridge University Press.

References

1. Biographies and Lives. William Thomson (Lord Kelvin). Obtained from biografiasyvidas.com
2. EcuRed. Lord Kelvin. Obtained from ecured.cu
3. Ark, Augustine. Thomson, William (Lord Kelvin) (1824-1907). Retrieved from histel.com
4. Sharlin, Harold I. William Thomson, Baron Kelvin. Retrieved from britannica.com
5. Famous Scientists. William Thomson. Retrieved from famousscientists.org
6. New World Encyclopedia. William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin. Retrieved from newworldencyclopedia.org
7. Schoolworkhelper Editorial Team. William Thomson (Lord Kelvin): Biography & Career. Retrieved from schoolworkhelper.net
8. Magnet Academy. William Thomson, Lord Kelvin. Retrieved from nationalmaglab.org