LORD KELVIN

AN ACCOUNT OF HIS SCIENTIFIC
LIFE AND WORK

BY

ANDREW GRAY

LL.D., F.R.S., V.-P.R.S.E.

PROFESSOR OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW

PUBLISHED IN LONDON BY
J. M. DENT & CO., AND IN NEW
YORK BY E. P. DUTTON & CO.

1908

Richard Clay & Sons, Limited,
BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND
BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.

PREFACE

This book makes no claim to be a biography of Lord Kelvin in the usual sense. It is an extension of an article which appeared in the Glasgow Herald for December 19, 1907, and has been written at the suggestion of various friends of Lord Kelvin, in the University of Glasgow and elsewhere, who had read that article. The aim of the volume is to give an account of Lord Kelvin's life of scientific activity, and to explain to the student, and to the general reader who takes an interest in physical science and its applications, the nature of his discoveries. Only such a statement of biographical facts as seems in harmony with this purpose is attempted. But I have ventured, as an old pupil and assistant of Lord Kelvin, to sketch here and there the scene in his class-room and laboratory, and to record some of the incidents of his teaching and work.

I am under obligations to the proprietors of the Glasgow Herald for their freely accorded permission to make use of their article, and to Messrs. Annan, photographers, Glasgow, and Messrs. James MacLehose & Sons, Glasgow, for the illustrations which are given, and which I hope may add to the interest of the book.

A. Gray.

The University, Glasgow,
    May 20, 1908.

CONTENTS