Lord Kelvin

The Right Honourable The Lord Kelvin OM GCVO PC PRS FRSE
Kelvin, c. 1900, by T. & R. Annan & Sons
President of the Royal Society
In office 1 December 1890 – 30 November 1895
Preceded by	Sir George Stokes
Succeeded by	The Lord Lister
Personal details
Born	(1824-06-26)26 June 1824 Belfast, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Died	17 December 1907(1907-12-17) (aged 83) Largs, Scotland
Nationality	British[1][2]
Political party	Liberal (1865–1886) Liberal Unionist (from 1886)
Spouses	Margaret Crum ​ ​ (m. 1852; died 1870)​ Frances Blandy ​ ​ (m. 1874⁠–⁠1907)​ [3]
Children	None[4]
Parent	James Thomson (father)
Relatives	James Thomson (brother)
Signature
Alma mater	Royal Belfast Academical Institution Glasgow University Peterhouse, Cambridge
Known for	List Joule–Thomson effect Joule-Thomson ideal gas coefficient Voigt–Thomson law Thomson effect (thermoelectric) Thomson relations Kelvin balance Kelvin's balls Kelvin cat's eye pattern Kelvin coupling Kelvin's mirror galvanometer Kelvin material Kelvin water dropper Kelvin wave Kelvin–Helmholtz instability Kelvin–Helmholtz mechanism Kelvin-Helmholtz luminosity Kelvin-Planck statement Kelvin's heat death paradox Kelvin–Helmholtz time scale Kelvin's minimum energy theorem Kelvin conjecture Kelvin structure Kelvin foam Kelvin functions Kelvin transform Kelvin's circulation theorem Kelvin–Stokes theorem Kelvin bridge Kelvin sensing Kelvin equation Kelvin-Varley divider Kelvin wake pattern Kelvin angle Zero Kelvin Kelvin probe force microscope Kelvin scanning probe Automatic curb sender Cable theory Dark night sky paradox Earth's age paradox Depth sounding Dissipation Gyrostat Law of squares First law of thermodynamics Second law of thermodynamics Entropy Heat death of the universe Magnetic vector potential Magnetoresistance Maxwell's demon Piezoresistive effect Siphon recorder Stationary phase approximation Dark matter Tide-predicting machine Vortex theory of the atom Coining the term chirality Coining the term thermodynamics[6] Coining the term kinetic energy
Awards	First Smith's Prize (1845) Royal Medal (1856) Keith Medal (1864) Matteucci Medal (1876) Albert Medal (1879) Copley Medal (1883) John Fritz Medal (1905)
Scientific career
Institutions	University of Glasgow
Academic advisors	William Hopkins
Notable students	Lord Rayleigh[5] William Edward Ayrton
It is believed the "PNP" in his signature stands for "Professor of Natural Philosophy". Kelvin also wrote under the pseudonym "P. Q. R."

William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (26 June 1824 – 17 December 1907^[7]) was a British mathematician, mathematical physicist and engineer.^[8][9] Born in Belfast, he was the professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow for 53 years, where he undertook significant research and mathematical analysis of electricity, was instrumental in the formulation of the first and second laws of thermodynamics,^[10][11] and contributed significantly to unifying physics, which was then in its infancy of development as an emerging academic discipline. He received the Royal Society's Copley Medal in 1883 and served as its president from 1890 to 1895. In 1892, he became the first scientist to be elevated to the House of Lords.^[12]

Absolute temperatures are stated in units of kelvin in Lord Kelvin's honour. While the existence of a coldest possible temperature, absolute zero, was known before his work, Kelvin determined its correct value as approximately −273.15 degrees Celsius or −459.67 degrees Fahrenheit.^[13] The Joule–Thomson effect is also named in his honour.

Kelvin worked closely with mathematics professor Hugh Blackburn in his work. He also had a career as an electrical telegraph engineer and inventor which propelled him into the public eye and earned him wealth, fame, and honours. For his work on the transatlantic telegraph project, he was knighted in 1866 by Queen Victoria, becoming Sir William Thomson. He had extensive maritime interests and worked on the mariner's compass, which previously had limited reliability.

Kelvin was ennobled in 1892 in recognition of his achievements in thermodynamics, and of his opposition to Irish Home Rule,^[14][15][16] becoming Baron Kelvin, of Largs in the County of Ayr. The title refers to the River Kelvin, which flows near his laboratory at the University of Glasgow's Gilmorehill home at Hillhead. Despite offers of elevated posts from several world-renowned universities, Kelvin refused to leave Glasgow, remaining until his retirement from that post in 1899.^[7] Active in industrial research and development, he was recruited around 1899 by George Eastman to serve as vice-chairman of the board of the British company Kodak Limited, affiliated with Eastman Kodak.^[17] In 1904 he became chancellor of the University of Glasgow.^[7]

Kelvin resided in Netherhall, a redstone mansion in Largs, which he built in the 1870s and where he died in 1907. The Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow has a permanent exhibition on the work of Kelvin, which includes many of his original papers, instruments, and other artefacts, including his smoking pipe.