Kelvin: British Scientist and Inventor

Kelvin Temperature Scale

Kelvin is a temperature scale designed so that zero degrees K is defined as absolute zero (at absolute zero, a hypothetical temperature, all molecular movement stops - all actual temperatures are above absolute zero) and the size of one unit is the same as the size of one degree Celsius. Water freezes at 273.16K; water boils at 373.16K. [ K = C + 273.16°, F = (9/5)C + 32°].

This temperature scale was designed by Lord Kelvin (William Thomson, 1824-1907). Kelvin was a British inventor and scientist (he was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1824). In addition to his work on temperature, Kelvin invented over 50 devices (including the mirror galvanometer, which detects and measures weak electric fields), discovered the second law of thermodynamics (the amount of usable energy in the universe is decreasing), and wrote hundreds of scientific papers.

Thomson was knighted in 1866 (by Queen Victoria) and named Baron Kelvin of Largs in 1892. Kelvin died in 1907 and is buried in Westminster Abbey (London, England) next to the grave of Sir Isaac Newton.