KELVIN 



1824-1907 



TT7ILLIAM THOMSON (afterwards Baron Kelvin) 

 was born at Belfast on 25th June 1824, and was 

 the son of James Thomson, LL.D., formerly professor of 

 mathematics at the University of Glasgow. At the early 

 age of eleven, Thomson entered Glasgow University, and 

 finally St Peter's College, Cambridge. In 1845 he was 

 second wrangler and first Smith's prizeman. After 

 leaving Cambridge, he went to Paris and studied 

 chemistry under Regnault. In 1846 Thomson was 

 elected to the chair of natural philosophy in Glasgow 

 University, and held the post for over fifty years. In 

 1841 he published a paper on the "Uniform Motion of 

 Heat in Homogeneous Uniform Bodies." Thomson was 

 a profound mathematician and physicist, " a prince of 

 science and benefactor of the world." 



Even at eleven years of age the young philosopher 

 was solving the problem how long it had taken the 

 earth to cool since it first came together as a white-hot 

 globe : and only a few years ago, he stated that the earth 



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