A letter by William Thomson, F. R. S., on the ‘Thomson effect’

1971 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-232
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Conduction ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Mobile Element ◽  
Public University ◽  
The State ◽  
Thomson Effect ◽  
The Public ◽  
University Library ◽  
William Thomson ◽  
Lord Kelvin

Of two letters written by William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) to the Genevese physicist Auguste de la Rive (1801-1873, For. Mem. R.S.) which are preserved in the public University Library of Geneva, one is of distinct interest. This letter (M.S. 2319), written on 17 December 1856, throws sidelights on the discovery of the ‘Thomson Effect’ (originally described in his paper to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1851) and on the state of his thought about the nature of the mobile element involved in electrical conduction.

Sir William Thomson and the Intercept Method

1972 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-98
Author(s):  
Charles H. Cotter
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
New Method ◽  
William Thomson ◽  
Lord Kelvin ◽  
Short Method ◽  
Royal Society Of London

The year 1971 marked the first centenary of the publication of a paper on navigation which appeared in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London in which the author, Sir William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) described a new method of determining an astronomical position line. The method was impracticable and was not, therefore, adopted by practical seamen. Nevertheless, its design is ingenious and interesting, and an investigation of its principles adds lustre to the genius of its inventor—reputedly one of the most eminent philosophers of the nineteenth century. Although the method failed in the eyes of the mariners for whom it was intended, Thomson sparked off an interest in short-method tables which has persisted even to the present day.

scholarly journals The formation of ice and the grained structure of glaciers

1905 ◽  
Vol 76 (512) ◽  
pp. 431-439 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Precise Meaning ◽  
William Thomson ◽  
James Thomson ◽  
Lord Kelvin

In the following pages I have the honour to lay before the Royal Society the results of a lengthy research on the formation of ice and the grained structure of glaciers, which may serve as a complement to the previous investigations on the same subject published in the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ and ‘Proceedings of the Royal Society by Forbes, Tyndall and Huxley, Tyndall, Faraday, T. Graham, J. F. Main, J. C. McConnel and D. A. Kidd, and elsewhere by Guyot, Agassiz, James Thomson, and Sir William Thomson (now Lord Kelvin), Hermann and Adolf Schlagintweit, Person, Leydolt, Rüdorff, Bertin, Grad and A. Dupré, Moseley, A. Heim, J. T. Bottomley, K. R Koch and Klocke, Forel, Ed. Hagenbach-Bischoff, E. von Drygalski, Mügge, H. Hess and others. 1. It will be convenient at the outset to define the precise meaning with which it is proposed to employ certain words, some of which are in vague popular use, while others are less familiar or new.

The ‘Universal’ Sea and Air Navigation Tables and the a and b Almanac

1951 ◽  
Vol 4 (02) ◽  
pp. 109-116
Author(s):  
F. Radler de Aquino
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Spherical Coordinates ◽  
Heavenly Body ◽  
William Thomson ◽  
Spherical Triangles ◽  
One Year ◽  
Lord Kelvin ◽  
First Time

The position of a point on the surface will then be expressed by two spherical coordinates: namely, ist, the distance of the point from the primitive circle measured on a secondary; 2nd, the distance intercepted on the primitive circle between this secondary and some given point of the primitive circle assumed as the origin of coordinates.—William Chauvenet,Manual of Spherical and Practical Astronomy(1896).On 16 May 1870, exactly eighty years before this paper was written, Lord Kelvin, then Sir William Thomson, worked out an epoch-making example of how to find the hour angle and azimuth of a heavenly body by inspection, in order to facilitate the use of Captain Thomas Sumner's method at sea. His work was published one year later in theProceedings of the Royal Society, and in it he describes a page of his new Tables for Facilitating Sumner's Method at Sea. These tables, comprising nine pages, were made public on 11 November 1875 and were published in London in May of the following year; from them have been derived all modern navigation tables based on right-angled spherical triangles. Kelvin then used, for the first time, Greenwich hour angle in arc and assumed latitudes and longitudes. (The writer has himself used G.H.A. in arc since 1902 and assumed positions since 1908.)

scholarly journals The Conception and Development of Weir's Diagram

1977 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 517-520
Author(s):  
Charles H. Cotter
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Magnetic Compass ◽  
Spherical Trigonometry ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
William Thomson ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Lord Kelvin

Just a century ago, in 1876, Patrick Weir, an officer of a vessel trading between London and Australia, conceived the idea of a diagram that might facilitate finding the Sun's true azimuth for the purpose of checking the magnetic compass. Some thirteen, years later Captain Weir's Diagram was the subject of a paper communicated by Sir William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In his paper Weir outlined the train of reasoning by which he succeeded in constructing a novel diagram which was described by Professor P. G. Tait as ‘a singularly elegant construction which, not only puts in a new and attractive light one of the most awkward of the problems of spherical trigonometry, but it practically gives in a single-page diagram the whole content of the two volumes of Burdwood's Azimuth Tables’. Tait also remarked that the method supplied an interesting graphical plane construction of a function of three independent variables.

scholarly journals Life quality satisfaction in the work regarding the bio-psycho-socials and organizations: a comparative study among professors of a public university

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-44
Author(s):  
Silvio Roberto Stefano ◽  
Maria Cristina Pinto Gattai ◽  
Viviane Rossini ◽  
Ana Cristina Limongi França
Keyword(s):  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Life Quality ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Private University ◽  
Public University ◽  
The State ◽  
University Professors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Quality Life ◽  
Selection Of

In  this  study,  it  was  intended  to  know  more deeply about the  satisfaction  level  of the  public university professors with the quality life at work (QLW) comparatively  to  the  private  university ones, being taken as base the bio-psycho-socials factors  of the  two groups. For  so  much, a  field research was accomplished through the selection of a sample of professors from a public university of  the  State  of Paraná  and a  private  university of the State of São Paulo. A solemnity-report instrument was applied  with  sixty  seven subjects and  the  obtained  data  were  tabulated  with  the averages  of  the  results  obtained  for  each  attribute. The appraised dependent variable – the de-gree of the professors’ satisfaction in relation  to the variables of QLW offered by the researched universities – was classified in biological, psycho-logical,  social  and  organizational.  Starting  from these data, it took place a descriptive analysis.

scholarly journals Higher Education in Texas: a Brief Overview

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 187-194
Author(s):  
Stacey L. Edmonson ◽  
◽  
James W. Hynes ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Public University ◽  
The State ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Education ◽  
Private Institutions ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Wellbeing ◽  
University Systems ◽  
Primary Focus

Institutions of Higher Education in Texas develop, support, and enhance the economic, cultural, and social wellbeing of the state and the country. These institutions offer courses and degrees in all disciplines. They are strategically located across the state to support the economic activity while reflecting on the historical and cultural makeup of the region. There are both public and private institutions. The primary focus of this article is on the public university systems in Texas. An overview of the processes of accreditation and governance is presented.

Background to the Joule-Mayer Controversy

1970 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-225 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
University Library ◽  
William Thomson ◽  
George Boole ◽  
Lord Kelvin

A COLLECTION of letters to William Thomson, F.R.S. (Lord Kelvin), Professor of Natural Philosophy at Glasgow University from 1846-1899, which is now in the possession of Glasgow University Library, seems not to have been available to the biographers of Thomson, Tait, Joule and Maxwell. The correspondence dates mainly from the period 1850-1870 and includes 102 letters from J. P. Joule, 95 from P. G. Tait, 24 from J. C. Maxwell, 5 from H. Helmholz, and many others from Thomson’s colleagues on the Atlantic Cable project—Varley, Fleeming Jenkin, Osborne, etc. There is also a number of letters from Thomson to various correspondents, notably including 16 to George Boole, dating from 1845-1848.

Lord Kelvin and His Compass

1979 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. E. May
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Trade Mark ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Unpublished Paper ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
William Thomson ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Obituary Notice ◽  
Lord Kelvin ◽  
Patent Design

It is now more than thirty years since Commander W. E. May, R.N. (formerly of the Admiralty Compass Observatory), drafted this hitherto unpublished paper, recording his opinions based on a study of documents made available to him in 1947 by Messrs Kelvin, Bottomley and Baird. The documents referred to in the paper are:The Thomson v. Moore case as presented to the House of Lords in the Thomson v. Moore case (Patent Design and Trade Mark Cases, Vol. VII, No. 36.)The case of Thomson v. Hughes (Patent Design and Trade Mark Cases, Vol. VII, Nos. 9 and 22.)Report of Proof of case of Kelvin v. Whyte Thomson &. Co.Bound volume of patent specifications referred to in the last named.It is a curious habit of editors and publishers to invite well-known persons to write articles on subjects outside their normal orbit. Thus in 1874 Sir William Thomson was invited to write for Good Words an article on the mariner's compass. He took up the task and soon realized that he did not know enough of the subject to complete the article. He then began to study the compass and the final part of the article was published in 1879. Such is one of Lord Kelvin's explanations of how he came to interest himself. In 1885, in an affidavit for the Moore case, he said that he took up the study of the compass in 1871, whilst elsewhere he said that it was the necessity of writing for the Royal Society an obituary notice on Archibald Smith, who died in 1872, which first turned his attention to compasses.

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