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HandWiki. William Thomson, Baron Kelvin. Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/37452 (accessed on 01 October 2026).
HandWiki. William Thomson, Baron Kelvin. Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/37452. Accessed October 01, 2026.
HandWiki. "William Thomson, Baron Kelvin" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/37452 (accessed October 01, 2026).
HandWiki. (2022, December 01). William Thomson, Baron Kelvin. In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/37452
HandWiki. "William Thomson, Baron Kelvin." Encyclopedia. Web. 01 December, 2022.
William Thomson, Baron Kelvin
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References

  1. Harold I. Sharlin (December 13, 2019). "William Thomson, Baron Kelvin". Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Thomson-Baron-Kelvin. 
  2. Kelvin and Ireland Raymond Flood, Mark McCartney and Andrew Whitaker (2009) J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 158 011001 http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/158/1/011001
  3. Randall, Lisa (2005). Warped Passages. New York: HarperCollins.  p.162
  4. "Hutchison, Iain "Lord Kelvin and Liberal Unionism"". http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/158/1/012004/pdf/jpconf9_158_012004.pdf. Retrieved 29 October 2011. 
  5. Trainer, Matthew (2008). "Lord Kelvin, Recipient of The John Fritz Medal in 1905". Physics in Perspective 10: 212–223. doi:10.1007/s00016-007-0344-4.  https://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2Fs00016-007-0344-4
  6. "Biography of William Thomson's father". Groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk. http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Thomson_James.html. Retrieved 29 October 2011. 
  7. Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1783–2002 http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf
  8. "David Thomson Aberdeen University". https://homepages.abdn.ac.uk/npmuseum/article/Profs/ThomsonUni.shtml. 
  9. P.Q.R. (1841). "On Fourier's expansions of functions in trigonometric series". Cambridge Mathematical Journal 2: 258–262. 
  10. P.Q.R. (1841). "Note on a passage in Fourier's 'Heat'". Cambridge Mathematical Journal 3: 25–27. 
  11. P.Q.R. (1842). "On the uniform motion of heat and its connection with the mathematical theory of electricity". Cambridge Mathematical Journal 3: 71–84. 
  12. Niven, W.D. (ed.) (1965). The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell, 2 vols. New York: Dover. Vol. 2, p. 301. 
  13. Mayer, Roland. Peterhouse Boat Club 1828-1978. Peterhouse Boat Club. p. 5. ISBN 0950618101. 
  14. "Thomson, William (THN841W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. http://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search-2018.pl?sur=&suro=w&fir=&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&z=all&tex=THN841W&sye=&eye=&col=all&maxcount=50. 
  15. Thompson (1910) vol. 1, p. 98
  16. McCartney, Mark (1 December 2002). "William Thomson: king of Victorian physics". Physics World. http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/16484. Retrieved 16 July 2008. 
  17. Chang (2004), Ch.4
  18. Thomson, W. (1848) "On an Absolute Thermometric Scale founded on Carnot's Theory of the Motive Power of Heat, and calculated from Regnault's observations" Math. and Phys. Papers vol. 1, pp 100–106
  19. — (1949) "An Account of Carnot's Theory of the Motive Power of Heat; with Numerical Results deduced from Regnault's Experiments on Steam" Math. and Phys. Papers vol.1, pp 113–155
  20. Sharlin (1979), p.112
  21. Thomson, W. (1851) "On the dynamical theory of heat; with numerical results deduced from Mr. Joule's equivalent of a thermal unit and M. Regnault's observations on steam" Math. and Phys. Papers vol. 1, pp 175–183 https://www.google.com/books?id=NGGOnRx4aakC&pg=PA1&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false
  22. Thomson, W. (1851) p.183
  23. Thomson, W. (1856) "On the thermal effects of fluids in motion" Math. and Phys. Papers vol.1, pp 333–455
  24. "William Thomson, Baron Kelvin (Scottish engineer, mathematician, and physicist) - Encyclopædia Britannica". Britannica.com. 1907-12-17. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/314541/William-Thomson-Baron-Kelvin. Retrieved 2013-09-04. 
  25. Smith, Crosbie. "Thomson, William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36507.  (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) https://dx.doi.org/10.1093%2Fref%3Aodnb%2F36507
  26. Thomson, W. (1854) "On the theory of the electric telegraph" Math. and Phys. Papers vol.2, p.61
  27. Thomson, W. (1855) "On the peristaltic induction of electric currents in submarine telegraph wires" Math. and Phys. Papers vol.2, p.87
  28. Thomson, W. (1855) "Letters on telegraph to America" Math. and Phys. Papers vol.2, p.92
  29. Thomson, W. (1857) Math. and Phys. Papers vol.2, p.154
  30. Sharlin (1979) p.141
  31. Sharlin (1979) p.144
  32. "Board of Trade Committee to Inquire into … Submarine Telegraph Cables’, Parl. papers (1860), 52.591, no. 2744
  33. "Report of the Scientific Committee Appointed to Consider the Best Form of Cable for Submersion Between Europe and America" (1863)
  34. Alan Gurney (17 August 2005). "Chapter 19: Thomson's Compass and Binnacle". Compass: A Story of Exploration and Innovation. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393608830. 
  35. "Lord Kelvin's sailing yacht 'Lalla Rookh', c 1860-1900". https://www.diomedia.com/stock-photo-lord-kelvins-sailing-yacht-lalla-rookh-c-1860-1900-image5525313.html. 
  36. Kragh, Helge (2002). "The Vortex Atom: A Victorian Theory of Everything" (in en). Centaurus 44 (1–2): 32–114. doi:10.1034/j.1600-0498.2002.440102.x. ISSN 0008-8994. https://www.academia.edu/4084776. Retrieved 9 March 2019. 
  37. Thomson, Wm. (1867). "On Vortex Atoms". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 6: 94–105. doi:10.1017/S0370164600045430. http://zapatopi.net/kelvin/papers/on_vortex_atoms.html. 
  38. Silliman, Robert H. (1963) William Thomson: Smoke Rings and Nineteenth-Century Atomism, Isis 54(4): 461–474. JSTOR link https://www.jstor.org/stable/228151
  39. Helge Kragh (211) Higher Speculations, Grand Theories and Failed Revolutions in Physics and Cosmology, Oxford University Press
  40. Wolfram, Stephen (2002). A New Kind of Science. Wolfram Media, Inc.. p. 1107. ISBN 978-1-57955-008-0. https://archive.org/details/newkindofscience00wolf/page/1107. 
  41. "Maclean, Magnus, 1857-1937, electrical engineer". http://strathclyde.ica-atom.org/maclean-magnus-1857-1937-electrical-engineer. Retrieved 2018-01-19. 
  42. David Lindley, Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy, page 293
  43. IEC. "1906 Preliminary Meeting Report, pp 46-48". http://www.iec.ch/about/history/documents/pdf/IEC_Founding_Meeting_Report_1906.pdf. Retrieved 21 October 2012. 
  44. Sharlin (1979) p.169
  45. Imbrie & Imbrie 1986, p. 40.
  46. Young & Stearley 2008, p. 99.
  47. Burchfield (1990)
  48. Bowler, Peter J. (1983). The eclipse of Darwinism: anti-Darwinian evolution theories in the decades around 1900 (paperback ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 23–24. ISBN 978-0-8018-4391-4. 
  49. Kelvin did pay off gentleman's bet with Strutt on the importance of radioactivity in the Earth. The Kelvin period does exist in the evolution of stars. They shine from gravitational energy for a while (correctly calculated by Kelvin) before fusion and the main sequence begins. Fusion was not understood until well after Kelvin's time. England, P.; Molnar, P.; Righter, F. (January 2007). "John Perry's neglected critique of Kelvin's age for the Earth: A missed opportunity in geodynamics". GSA Today 17 (1): 4–9. doi:10.1130/GSAT01701A.1.  https://dx.doi.org/10.1130%2FGSAT01701A.1
  50. ""Of Geological Dynamics" excerpts". Zapatopi.net. http://zapatopi.net/kelvin/papers/of_geological_dynamics.html. Retrieved 29 October 2011. 
  51. Tung, K.K. "Topics in Mathematical Modeling" (Princeton University Press 2007), p.243-251. In Thomson's theory the Earth's age is proportional to the square of the difference between interior temperature and surface temperature, so that the uncertainty in the former leads to an even larger relative uncertainty in the age.
  52. Thomson, William (1862). "On the Secular Cooling of the Earth". Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh XXIII: 160–161. doi:10.1017/s0080456800018512. https://zenodo.org/record/2202654. 
  53. Burchfield, Joe D. (1990). Lord Kelvin and the Age of the Earth. University of Chicago Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-226-08043-7. 
  54. Hamblin, W. Kenneth (1989). The Earth's Dynamic Systems 5th ed. Macmillan Publishing Company. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-02-349381-2. https://archive.org/details/earthsdynamicsys00hamb_1/page/135. 
  55. Heuel-Fabianek, Burkhard. "Natürliche Radioisotope: die "Atomuhr" für die Bestimmung des absoluten Alters von Gesteinen und archäologischen Funden". StrahlenschutzPraxis 1/2017: 31–42. 
  56. Silvanus Phillips Thompson (January 1977). "The life of Lord Kelvin". American Journal of Physics 45 (10): 1095. doi:10.1119/1.10735. ISBN 978-0-8284-0292-7. Bibcode: 1977AmJPh..45.1010T. https://books.google.com/books?id=sSeKh7OWAcgC. 
  57. Silvanus Phillips Thompson (January 1977). "The life of Lord Kelvin". American Journal of Physics 45 (10): 998. doi:10.1119/1.10735. ISBN 978-0-8284-0292-7. Bibcode: 1977AmJPh..45.1010T. https://books.google.com/books?id=sSeKh7OWAcgC. 
  58. Perry, John (1895) "On the age of the earth," Nature, 51 : 224-227, 341-342, 582-585. (51:224, 51:341, 51:582 at Internet Archive) http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015038750868;view=1up;seq=266
  59. Stacey, Frank D. (2000). "Kelvin's age of the Earth paradox revisited". Journal of Geophysical Research 105 (B6): 13155–13158. doi:10.1029/2000JB900028. Bibcode: 2000JGR...10513155S.  https://dx.doi.org/10.1029%2F2000JB900028
  60. Philips, Thompson S. The Life of William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs. 
  61. McCartney & Whitaker (2002), reproduced on Institute of Physics website http://physicsweb.org/articles/world/15/12/6
  62. Thomson, W. (1889) Address to the Christian Evidence Society
  63. The Finality of this Globe, Hampshire Telegraph, 15 June 1889, p. 11.
  64. "The Coronation Honours". The Times (London) (36804): p. 5. 26 June 1902. 
  65. "Court Circular". The Times (London) (36842): p. 6. 9 August 1902. 
  66. No. 27470. 2 September 1902. p. 5679. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/27470/page/5679 
  67. No. 27464. 12 August 1902. p. 5173. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/27464/page/5173 
  68. "Death of Lord Kelvin". 
  69. The Scotsman, 23 December 1907
  70. Glasgow Herald, 24 December 1907
  71. Glasgow Evening Times, 23 December 1907
  72. Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow (2008). No Mean Society: 200 years of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow. 2nd Ed. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-9544965-0-0. http://royalphil.org/Sessions/No%20Mean%20Society.pdf. 
  73. Robert Kargon and Peter Achinstein (1987) Kelvin’s Baltimore Lectures and Modern Theoretical Physics: historical and philosophical perspectives, MIT Press ISBN:0-262-11117-9
  74. "Lord Kelvin, Nineteenth Century Clouds over the Dynamical Theory of Heat and Light", reproduced in Notices of the Proceedings at the Meetings of the Members of the Royal Institution of Great Britain with Abstracts of the Discourses, Volume 16, p. 363–397 https://books.google.com/books?id=YvoAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA363
  75. The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, Series 6, volume 2, pages 1–40 (1901)
  76. The life of William Thomson, baron Kelvin of Largs, vol2, "Views and Opinions" https://archive.org/stream/lifeofwillthom02thomrich/lifeofwillthom02thomrich_djvu.txt
  77. The Royal Society, London http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=6002
  78. Letter from Lord Kelvin to Baden Powell 8 December 1896 http://zapatopi.net/kelvin/papers/letters.html#baden-powell
  79. Interview in the Newark Advocate 26 April 1902 http://zapatopi.net/kelvin/papers/interview_aeronautics_and_wireless.html
  80. Superstring: A theory of everything? (1988) by Paul Davies and Julian Brown
  81. Einstein (2007) by Walter Isaacson, page 575
  82. The End of Science (1996), by John Horgan, p. 19 https://books.google.com/books?id=S1Lmqh79dOoC&pg=PA19
  83. Lightman, Alan P. (2005). The discoveries: great breakthroughs in twentieth-century science, including the original papers. Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-676-97789-9. 
  84. "Papers Past — Evening Post — 30 July 1898 — A Startling Scientific Prediction". Paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=EP18980730.2.105. Retrieved 2013-09-04. 
  85. "The Evening News - Google News Archive Search". http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1982&dat=19010716&id=yCYiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AaQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5236,534844. 
  86. "Honorary Members and Fellows". Institution of Engineers in Scotland. http://www.iesis.org/honorary-fellows.html. Retrieved 6 October 2012. 
  87. No. 23185. 16 November 1866. p. 6062. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/23185/page/6062 
  88. No. 26260. 23 February 1892. p. 991. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/26260/page/991 
  89. No. 26758. 14 July 1896. p. 4026. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/26758/page/4026 
  90. "Court Circular". The Times (London) (36760): p. 5. 6 May 1902. 
  91. No. 27470. 2 September 1902. p. 5679. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/27470/page/5679 
  92. "Foreign degrees for British men of Science". The Times (London) (36867): p. 4. 8 September 1902. 
  93. "Honorary doctorates from the University of Oslo 1902-1910". http://www.uio.no/om/tall-og-fakta/aresdoktorer/tidligere-aresdoktorer/1902-1910/.  (in Norwegian)
  94. "Current Banknotes : Clydesdale Bank". The Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers. http://www.scotbanks.org.uk/banknotes_current_clydesdale_bank.php. Retrieved 15 October 2008. 
  95. "Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame". 2012. http://www.engineeringhalloffame.org/index.html. Retrieved 27 Aug 2012. 
  96. Thompson, Silvanus (1910). The Life of William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs. Volume: 2. MacMillan and Co., Limited. p. 914. 
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William Thomson, Baron Kelvin
Name: William Thomson, Baron Kelvin
Born: Jun 1824
Died: Dec 1907
Birth
Location:
Belfast, Ireland
Titles: Mathematical physicist Engineer
Affiliation: University of Glasgow
Honors: First Smith's Prize (1845) Royal Medal (1856) Keith Medal (1864) Matteucci Medal (1876) Albert Medal (1879) Copley Medal (1883) John Fritz Medal (1905)
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