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Sir William Thomson

Glasgow University Archive Services, Library

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Sir William Thomson

A photographic portrait of the scientist and inventor Lord Kelvin (1824-1907).

William Thomson, Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow 1846-1899, was knighted in 1866 for his prominent role in the laying of the transatlantic telegraph cable. When this photograph was taken in 1871 Sir William was already famous for proposing an absolute scale of temperature now known as the Kelvin Scale, and for his pioneering research in the fields of mechanical energy and heat. He was President of the British Association that year and went on to become one of Britain's most respected scientists. In 1892 he was created First Baron Kelvin of Largs, and when he died in 1907 he was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Reference: Memorials of the Old College of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1871

Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow University Archive Services

Keywords:
inventors, Natural Philosophy, professors, scientists, University of Glasgow



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