
Kelvin: Life, Labours and Legacy
Oxford University Press
Published on 10. April 2008
Book
Hardback
376 pages
978-0-19-923125-6 (ISBN)
Description
Lord Kelvin was one of the greatest physicists of the Victorian era. Widely known for the development of the Kelvin scale of temperature measurement, Kelvin's interests ranged across thermodynamics, the age of the Earth, the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable, not to mention inventions such as an improved maritime compass and a sounding device which allowed depths to be taken both quickly and while the ship was moving. He was an academic engaged in fundamental research, while also working with industry and technological advances. He corresponded and collaborated with other eminent men of science such as Stokes, Joule, Maxwell and Helmholtz, was raised to the peerage as a result of his contributions to science, and finally buried in Westminster Abbey next to Newton. This book contains a collection of chapters, authored by leading experts, covering the life and wide-ranging scientific contributions made by William Thomson, Lord Kelvin (1824-1907).
Reviews / Votes
...highlights Kelvin's crucial contributions to science, engineering and invention... Derry Jones Chemistry WorldMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
19 line drawings, 1 colour illustration, 30 halftones
Dimensions
Height: 253 mm
Width: 177 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
897 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-923125-6 (9780199231256)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Andrew Whitaker is Professor of Physics at Queen's University Belfast.
Content
FOREWORD ; LIFE ; 1. William Thomson: An Introductory Biography ; 2. Educating William: Belfast, Glasgow and Cambridge ; 3. On the Early Work of William Thomson: Mathematical Physics and Methodology in the 1840s ; 4. James Thomson and the Culture of a Victorian Engineer ; 5. Fifty-Eight Years of Friendship: Kelvin and Stokes ; 6. Kelvin and Fitzgerald ; LABOURS ; 7. Concepts and Models of the Magnetic Field ; 8. "A Dynamical Form of Mechanical Effect": Thomson's Thermodynamics ; 9. Kelvin and Engineering ; 10. William Thomson's Determinations of the Age of the Earth ; 11. Thomson and Tait: The Treatise on Natural Philosophy ; 12. Kelvin on Atoms and Molecules ; LEGACY ; 13. Kelvin and the Development of Science in Meiji Japan ; 14. Kelvin, Maxwell, Einstein and the Ether - Who was Right about What? ; 15. Kelvin and Statistical Mechanics ; 16. Kelvin - The Legacy