896 WILLIAM THOMSON, LORD KELVIN. 



development of agTicultural chemistry. Further, in the early years 

 of the Sheffield Scientific School he was a pillar of strength, an example 

 of the highest type of productive scholar, and a forceful illustration 

 of the power which a scientific man can wield for the good of the 

 community. The life of Samuel William Johnson and the work he 

 accomplished constitute a suggestive example of a form of high public 

 service which the man of scientific training can render his country 

 and humanity. 



Russell H. Chittenden. 



WILLIAM THOMSON, LORD KELVIN (1824-1907) 



Foreign Honorary Member in Class I, Seclion 4, 1872. 



William Thomson was born in Belfast, Ireland, on June 26th, 1824. 

 He was knighted in 1866 and was raised to the peerage in 1892 with 

 the title of Baron Kelvin of Largs. His ancestors had migrated from 

 Scotland in the seventeenth century. His father, James Thomson, 

 removed from Belfast with his family to Glasgow, Scotland in 1832 

 to occupy the chair of Mathematics at Glasgow University. William 

 matriculated at that institution in 1834, being then a little over ten 

 years old. He was a precocious boy, rapidly advancing in his studies 

 and early giving promise of that great mathematical genius and grasp 

 of scientific problems, which especially characterized his later life. 

 At sixteen he had, as a voluntary task, mastered Fourier's methods 

 and theorems in the original French, this study occupying a fortnight 

 only. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1845 taking rank 

 as second wrangler, and shortly afterwards became Smith's Prizeman. 

 Many evidences of his special talents were shown during his student 

 years at Cambridge, in papers and discussions. 



Leaving Cambridge he studied in Paris and there came into contact 

 with such leaders as Pouillet, Regnault, Liouville, Biot, Cauchy, 

 Foucalt, Dumas, Pelouze and others. 



In 1845 he was granted a Fellowship with rooms at Cambridge. 

 He had early shown a deep interest in electrical problems and theories, 

 in which field he afterward found opportunity to do his most important 

 work. This interest brought him into contact with Faraday. The 



