This Is My GlasgowThis is a beautiful little building with an unexpected historical connection. It's 20 Cambridge Street in Glasgow and it was desiged in a Venetian style by Duncan McNaughtan. Built in 1884, at one time it was a warehouse for William Thomson, better known as Lord Kelvin, one of greatest 19th Century scientists who is now best remembered for his work on absolute zero, the lowest possible temperature in the universe. How cool is that?
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As we explore, we might spare a thought for a man driven by an endles spirit of inquiry, William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin; he died on this date in 1907. A mathematician, mathematical physicist, and engineer considered by many “the Newton of his era,” Lord Kelvin was instrumental in the formulation of the first and second laws of thermodynamics, 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. Absolute temperatures are stated in units of kelvin in his honor.
#art #culture #curiosity #engineering #Freakpages #history #Kelvin #knowledge #lawsOfThermodynamics #literature #LordKelvin #Mathematics #music #philosophy #politics #Science #Technology #thermodynamics #WilliamThomson
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Given the current temperature in Glasgow, I figured it's worth posting this plaque I came across on Westbank Quadrant about the origins of Lord Kelvin's ground-breaking research into absolute zero while he was a professor at Glasgow University. None of it is remotely true, but it's an amusing tale nonetheless, and with the current cold snap, it feels quite plausible!
#glasgow #glasgowtoday #keepglasgowweird #lordkelvin #absolutezero #sciencefriday #glasgowhumour
An Ouroboros, an ancient symbol of eternity consisting of a snake eating its own tail, surrounding a triangle enclosing a six-pointed star on Glasgow University's Kelvin Building, which was built in 1954 and named in honour of Lord Kelvin. The carving itself originally came from the house of Lord Kelvin's father, who was also a professor at the university.
#glasgow #architecture #architecturephotography #sculpture #lordkelvin #ouroboros #glasgowunivesity
The roots of a tree on Kirklee Place in Glasgow flowing like slow-moving molasses through the bars of an old iron fence. This reminds me of Lord Kelvin's Pitch Glacier Experiment (one of the longest running scientific experiments in the world), which can be seen in the nearby Hunterian Museum. It demonstrates that seemingly solid materials, like pitch, can actually flow like a liquid, if given enough time.
#glasgow #trees #nature #tree #lordkelvin #science #hunterianmuseum
This type of compass was later installed on a number of admiralty ships, including the RRS Discovery, the ship Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton took on their first expedition to Antarctica in 1901, known as the Discovery Expedition.
If you are familiar with Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow, you'll almost certainly be familiar with the statue of the scientist, inventor and former Glasgow University professor Lord Kelvin. But did you know that behind his seat are a group of scientific instraments, including a Kelvin Compass, an improvement on the traditional mariners' compass invented by Lord Kelvin to ensure it would work more accurately on ships made from iron rather than wood.
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In between, he was involved in laying the first transatlantic telegraph cables, he served as the University's Professor of Natural Philosophy, he helped define the lowest possible temperature in the Universe, he created one of the first houses in the world to be fully lit by electricity and became the first scientist to be ennobled and so enter the House of Lords. Not bad for a young lad from Belfast!
#glasgow #statue #publicstatues #kelvingrovepark #lordkelvin #belfast #williamhunter
A statue of William Thomson in Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow. Thomson was Glasgow University's youngest (in 1832, aged 10) and oldest (aged 75) matriculated student.
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#glasgow #statue #publicstatues #kelvingrovepark #lordkelvin #belfast #williamhunter
