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THE RUMFORD FUND 



BENJAMIN THOMPSON, Count Rumford, was 

 born at Woburn, Massachusetts, March 26, 1753, 

 and died at Auteuil, France, August 21, 1814. 

 During his boyhood he showed an intense interest in 

 scientific matters and attended scientific lectures at 

 Harvard College. Afterwards he studied medicine, 

 though he never practised, and taught school at Con- 

 cord, New Hampshire. He was suspected of being 

 unfriendly to the cause of liberty in the War of the 

 Revolution, and on the evacuation of Boston by the 

 British in March, 1776 he went to England. 



Here he prosecuted various scientific researches, and 

 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1779. 

 He subsequently entered the employ of Prince Maxi- 

 milian of Bavaria, to whom he was of great service, 

 reorganizing the army, instituting important social re- 

 forms, and at the same time prosecuting valuable scien- 

 tific researches. Of these the most noteworthy was his 

 well-known investigation into the cause of the heat 

 produced by friction, by which he conclusively dis- 

 proved the hypothesis of the fluid nature of heat, and 

 laid an important stone in the foundation of the doc- 

 trine of the conservation of energy. He was created a 

 count by Prince Maximilian, and chose the title Count 



