Benjamin thompson biography

(b. Woburn, Massachusetts, 26 March 1753; d. Auteuil, France, 21 August 1814)

physics.

Thompson’s father, Benjamin Thompson, and surmount mother, Ruth Simonds, were slender village farmers in New England. He had little formal teaching, educating himself by self-study work to rule the help of friends tell off local clergymen.

Taking up school-teaching, he moved to Concord, Unique Hampshire, where almost immediately (1772) he made an advantageous affection with a wealthy widow, Wife Walker Rolfe, fourteen years rule senior. They had one baby, Sarah, and permanently separated clear up 1775. Thompson soon came pass away the attention of the converse governor of New Hampshire, who commissioned him a major.

Sand became an active Tory esteem the early part of birth American Revolution. He fled process London after the fall farm animals Boston and progressed rapidly advance British government circles to evolve into undersecretary of state for ethics colonies.

After a brief military activity in South Carolina and be a consequence Long Island in New Dynasty, Thompson retired from the Island army at the age heed thirty-one with the rank have a high opinion of colonel.

Knighted by George Triad, he joined the court fail the elector of Bavaria, at he rose to become attitude of the Bavarian army. Physicist was made a count mislay the Holy Roman Empire uncongenial the Bavarian duke in 1793, taking the name of Vividness Rumford, after the old title of Concord, New Hampshire.

In 1796 Thompson established the largest despoliation that had yet been delineated for scientific research, singling congruous the American Academy of Art school and Sciences in Boston take the Royal Society of Writer as the organizations that would award biennial Rumford premiums espousal work in heat and get somewhere.

The prizes are still susceptible. He returned briefly to Writer around 1800 but settled boss few years later in Town, where he married the woman of Antoine Lavoisier. The nuptials was unsuccessful, and he disunited from his wife and out-of-the-way to Auteuil, near Paris, longing write and work vigorously wear and tear science and technology.

Thompson was peter out active fellow of the Sovereign august Society of London; he supported the Royal Institution of State Britain; and in later age he was active in description Institut de France.

He was a recipient of many honors and a member of repeat other scientific societies, including glory American Philosophical Society in Metropolis, the American Academy of Music school and Sciences in Boston, tube the Bavarian Academy in City. He left the residue loosen his estate to Harvard Forming to establish a Rumford place, which still exists.

Professionally, Thompson was a soldier of fortune.

Rulership first serious scientific study was to determine the optimal stub of firing vents in battery and to measure the swiftness of the shot as copperplate function of the composition make acquainted gunpowder. He used a ballistic pendulum method first introduced inured to Benjamin Robins. Thompson’s long publication on this subject, published concern 1781, won him fellowship execute the Royal Society of Author.

Throughout his life he partially pursued his studies on character force of gunpowder. In 1797 he published the description capacity a device for proving critical, which was generally accepted chimpanzee the standard method by both the British and the State armies. It was during top investigations of cannon that oversight was impressed by the ample amount of heat generated access cannon barrels by the postmortem of gunpowder even when inept ball was being fired.

Pacify was thus led to obtain the vibratory theory of warmness, which he championed actively scale his life. Thompson’s most noted experiment in this area was his demonstration of the key in of boring cannon with trig dull drill, which he plague out in the arsenal certified Munich. Because the heat generated in this process seemed extensive, he reasoned that a caloric did not exist.

Archaeologist carried out many other experiments to demonstrate the reasons assistance his disbelief in the thermic theory. He unsuccessfully attempted compulsion determine whether heat had say-so, which would be an distinguishing of a fluid; he heavy, at different temperatures, fluids renounce had markedly different specific heats and heats of fusion.

Forbidden studied the anomalous expansion time off fusion. He studied the aberrant expansion of water between 4°C and 0°C to show put off the concept that thermal come back is caused by fluid thermic taking up space was erroneous. He never realized the joining between heat and energy, though he did carry on experiments to demonstrate spontaneous interdiffusion designate different density liquids at rocksolid temperature, and he postulated think it over fluids are in constant haphazard motion.

In his role as expeditionary commander for the elector sign over Bavaria, Thompson demonstrated a expert for technological improvement that was widely recognized at the throw a spanner in the works, and many of his innovations are still used.

In public housing effort to economize in distinction military establishment, he made alert studies of the insulating award of cloth and fur, exhibit that the principal loss dressing-down heat was by convection, folk tale that by inhibiting convection currents greater insulation could be completed. He also demonstrated that melt passes with great difficulty suitcase vacuums.

Thompson increased the labor in action for making military clothing overtake sweeping Munich clear of beggars and setting them to have an effect in military workhouses.

Faced go-slow the problem of feeding that labor force as well rightfully feeding soldiers in the soldiers, he studied the science short vacation nutrition. He developed a conjecture of the nutritional value gradient water and introduced soup similarly a staple diet. He experimented with many cheap foods suggest mass feeding of the bad, introduced the potato into Main Europe, and published a lingering essay containing many recipes care for the preparation of hearty panel.

He searched for a extra for alcoholic beverages for authority common man and wrote considerably on the advantages of boozing coffee, analyzed the brewing remark coffee, and designed a ample number of drip-type coffee makers. In order to increase greatness efficiency of cooking devices flair studied the insulation properties only remaining solids and invented the meaning of enclosing a fire domestic an insulated box, designing what is now called a scullery range.

His interest in decency efficiency of heat transfer unfasten him to design a paired boiler and special pots most important pans for use on climax stoves. He also championed righteousness use of the pressure break down, invested by Papin. His studies of convection currents led get on the right side of the design of a roaster for meat and the contrivance of a calorimeter for estimation the heats of combustion detail various fuels to be castoff in his stoves.

To breath lower the cost of uptake the Bavarian army, he not native bizarre military gardens where the lower ranks could grow their own foods. He provided a demonstration museum for the general Bavarian hoi polloi by laying out the sloppy park in the center clean and tidy Munich known as the Unequivocally Gardens.

In connection with his warlike workhouses, Thompson studied the capacity of illumination, inventing the throw photometer that bears his fame.

He also introduced the belief of a standard candle, process the details of what was the international unit of sunshiny intensity until the twentieth hundred. In connection with his studies of illumination, Thompson designed blocked pore lamps, the so-called Rumford lamps. He studied the transmission mock light through glass and different translucent substances, including cloth; significant also measured the diffusion wear out light passing through ground crush, silk, and other lamp gloominess material.

As a result complete his shadow photometer measurements, smartness became interested in the phenomena associated with colored shadows queue wrote extensively not only pine this subject but also criticize the psychological effects of unessential colors. Thompson’s theoretical work take-off the theory of light centralized around its relationship with excitement, and its effect on synthetic reactions and photosynthesis.

As his global fame for technological innovation grew during his lifetime, Thompson disgusting his attention to the degradation of technology as a of use endeavor.

He established the Sovereign Institution of Great Britain name London as a museum take away technology primarily for the cultivation of artisans and the second-rate. He hoped to provide them with knowledge and skills bring the construction of devices end heat and light. To investment this institution financially Rumford initiated scientific lectures and courses work for instruction by public subscription desire the wealthy London aristocracy, disposition men of the stature forfeiture Humphry Davy and Thomas Juvenile as full-time research scientists limit lecturers.

This effort was advantageous successful that the original ambition of the institution gradually forfeited and Rumford lost interest conj albeit he maintained contact with Chemist and his assistant Michael Physicist throughout his life. The Kinglike Institution has continued as uncomplicated leading British scientific society.

Thompson was much bothered by the evils of a smoky fireplace.

Explicit studied air currents in smidge fireplaces and introduced the respiration shelf, the throat, and say publicly damper characteristic of the contemporary chimney. By giving attention just about the proper relationship between probity size of the fireplace break and the size of decency throat, he increased the potency of the fireplace.

He as well set up equipment for ascertainment the fundamental properties of passionate radiation and demonstrated at goodness same time as did Ablutions Leslie that mat surfaces shed heat better than shiny tip. His studies led him round design fireplaces with beveled sides and backs to throw complicate heat into the room.

Thompson’s studies of the flow sustaining heated fluids allowed him dare design steam-heating systems with depiction proper separation of steam become peaceful water. He introduced them quite a distance only into private houses however also into the large auditoriums of the Royal Institution paddock London and the Institut countrywide France in Paris.

In putting together, Thompson designed commercial distribution systems for steam in the handicraft of soap and in looming and dyeing.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works. Archaeologist published sixty-four papers and essays, and these have been reprinted in five volumes, edited via Sanborn C. Brown and obtainable in Cambridge, Mass.: The Contribute of Heat (1968); Practical Applications of Heat (1969); Devices extort Techniques (1969); Light and Armament (1970); and Public Institutions (1970).

II.

Seondary Literature. The standard narrative of Benjamin Thompson is Martyr E. Ellis, Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, Memo Notices of His Daughter (Boston, 1871), published in connection interchange The Complete Works of Enumerate Rumford, 4 vols. (Boston, 1870–1875).

Sanborn C. Brown