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Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy
DEGREES KELVIN
A TALE OF GENIUS, INVENTION, AND TRAGEDY
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Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy
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Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy
DEGREES KELVIN
A TALE OF GENIUS, INVENTION, AND TRAGEDY
David Lindley
Joseph Henry Press
Washington, D.C.
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Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy
Joseph Henry Press
500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001
The Joseph Henry Press, an imprint of the National Academies Press, was created with the goal of making books on science, technology, and health more widely available to professionals and the public. Joseph Henry was one of the founders of the National Academy of Sciences and a leader in early American science.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this volume are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Academy of Sciences or its affiliated institutions.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lindley, David, 1956-
Degrees Kelvin : a tale of genius, invention, and tragedy / David Lindley.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-309-09073-3 (hbk.)
1. Kelvin, William Thomson, Baron, 1824-1907. 2. Physicists—Great Britain—Biography. I. Title.
QC16.K3L56 2004
530′.092—dc22
2003022885
Permission: The Syndics of Cambridge University Library in order to quote from the Kelvin and Stokes collections.
Copyright 2004 by David Lindley. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
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Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
vii
Introduction
1
1
Cambridge
11
2
Conundrums
64
3
Cable
114
4
Controversies
164
5
Compass
215
6
Kelvin
260
Epilogue
309
Bibliography
317
Notes
325
Index
353
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Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy
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Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Research for this book was done mostly at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, especially the Radcliffe Science Library, and at Cambridge University Library. I am grateful to the staff at both institutions for their help. I particularly thank Adam Perkins and his staff at the Scientific Manuscripts Collections at Cambridge. Last minute assistance from the Niels Bohr Library of the American Institute of Physics is much appreciated.
My agent, Susan Rabiner, helped shape the story into a more purposeful tale than the amorphous mass it might otherwise have been. Jeff Robbins at the Joseph Henry Press encouraged me to untangle some knots in the original manuscript and professed to be not unduly disturbed that I didn’t quite make the deadline. Chris Butcher scanned and tweaked several of the images reproduced here. Robert Fairley kindly provided copies of Jemima Blackburn’s watercolor of the Thomson brothers and Helmholtz and the striking photograph of Kelvin as an elderly man. Thanks to all.
For all kinds of other moral and practical support during a couple of peripatetic years, including but not limited to places to stay; rides to and from airports; use of the old blue Toyota; Internet connections; assorted computer peripherals plus technical assistance; beer, pizza, and bridge parties; bibliophilic companionship in Hay-on-Wye; excuses to go sight-
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Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy
seeing; distracting e-mails and phone calls; and a variety of opportunities to think about something other than this book, my thanks go to Liz Pennisi and Matt Butcher, Hellen Gelband, Karen Hopkin, Stephen Lindley, Bob Shackleton and Cathy Mattingly, Christine Mlot, Damaris Christensen, and Kay Behrensmeyer and Bill Keyser.
I want lastly to thank Michael Nauenberg for his review of the manuscript, which made me rethink some of my opinions, especially of thermodynamic history. Professor Nauenberg and I still don’t entirely agree, but I hope our differences are honorable. The history of science is a branch of history, after all; definitive conclusions are hard to come by.
