William Thomson (Lord Kelvin)

William Thomson born on June 26, 1824 and died December 17, 1907. Born in

Belfast, Ireland, this British physicist began the papers on the laws of conservation and

dissipation of energy. He published 661 papers on scientific subjects during his life and

patented 70 inventions. He was educated at the University of Glasgow and Cambridge

University at the age of 10 and had his first papers published at the ages of 16 and 17.

These papers contained an argument defending the work of Fourier (Fourier transforms),

which at that time was being heavily criticized by British scientists. He showed that

Fourier's mathematics could be applied to other physical phenomena other than that of

heat flow, where it was originally applied. At the age of fifteen, Kelvin wrote an essay

which he called "An Essay on the Figure of Earth." Kelvin used this essay as a source and

inspiration for ideas all of his life and won an award from the University. After eleven

ye...