In the academic year 1839/1840, Thomson won the class prize in astronomy for his Essay on the figure of the Earth which showed an early facility for mathematical analysis and creativity. In July 1865 Thomson sailed on the cable-laying expedition of the SS Great Eastern but the voyage was again dogged with technical problems.

[dubious – discuss] He could not even have known all of the sources of photosynthesis: for example the cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus—which accounts for more than half of marine photosynthesis—was not discovered until 1986. — But a footnote signalled his first doubts about the caloric theory, referring to Joule's very remarkable discoveries. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, Library of Congress authority ID: n79139223, Bibliothèque nationale de France ID: 12270383k, Biblioteca Nacional de España ID: XX1429435, Nationale Thesaurus voor Auteurs ID: 070034982, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ID: 36507, Plaques to Lord Kelvin in the United Kingdom, Statue of Lord Kelvin in Botanic Gardens, Belfast, Statue of Lord Kelvin in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow, Victoria Monument, Lancaster - West frieze scientists and writers, "Father of modern airconditioning" honored. The cable was lost after 1,200 miles (1,900 km) had been laid and the expedition had to be abandoned. [14] On gaining the fellowship, he spent some time in the laboratory of the celebrated Henri Victor Regnault, at Paris; but in 1846 he was appointed to the chair of natural philosophy in the University of Glasgow. He noted that the sun could not have possibly existed long enough to allow the slow incremental development by evolution — unless some energy source beyond what he or any other Victorian era person knew of was found. By 1847, Thomson had already gained a reputation as a precocious and maverick scientist when he attended the British Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Oxford.

Nichol updated the curriculum, introducing the new mathematical works of Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier. In the winter of 1860–1861 Kelvin slipped on some ice and fractured his leg, causing him to limp thereafter. Photograph by Maclure, Macdonald & Wellcome V0028635.jpg, Krasnale PAN (PAN Dwarves) Czarodziej, Magnetyzer, Kelwinek (Magician, Magnetizer, Kelvin) Wroclaw dwarf 01.jpg, Krasnale PAN (PAN Dwarves) Czarodziej, Magnetyzer, Kelwinek (Magician, Magnetizer, Kelvin) Wroclaw dwarf 02.jpg, Krasnale PAN (PAN Dwarves) Czarodziej, Magnetyzer, Kelwinek (Magician, Magnetizer, Kelvin) Wroclaw dwarf 03.jpg, Krasnale PAN (PAN Dwarves) Kelwinek (Kelvin) Wroclaw dwarf 01.jpg, Krasnale PAN (PAN Dwarves) Kelwinek (Kelvin) Wroclaw dwarf 02.jpg, Lord Kelvin (Biographies of Scientific Men).jpg, Masters of space- Morse and the telegraph; Thompson and the cable; Bell and the telephone; Marconi and the wireless telegraph; Carty and the wireless telephone; (1917) (14775956463).jpg, Piezoelectric balance presented by Pierre Curie to Lord Kelvin, Hunterian Museum, Glasgow.jpg, Portrait of Sir William Thomson (4672085).jpg, Portrait of William Thomson, Baron Kelvin (1824-1907), Physicist (2553639528).jpg, Portrait of William Thomson, Baron Kelvin.jpg, PSM V72 D190 William thomson lord kelvin.png, PSM V72 D191 William thomson lord kelvin at the age of twenty two.png, PSM V76 D622 Lord kelvin with his compass.png, PSM V76 D623 Lord and lady kelvin in 1906.png, Second Law of Thermodynamics - geograph.org.uk - 270054.jpg, Sir John Evans, bust of Sir Isaac Newton, Lord Kelvin, R.B. Even after Niagara Falls Thomson still held to his belief that direct current was the superior system. Sir William Thomson, din 1892 Lord Kelvin (n. 26 iunie 1824, Belfast, Regatul Unit al Marii Britanii și Irlandei – d. 17 decembrie 1907, Largs[*] , Regatul Unit al Marii Britanii și Irlandei), a fost un fizician britanic, renumit îndeosebi prin lucrările sale științifice în domeniul termodinamicii Thomson recommended a larger conductor with a larger cross section of insulation.

On May 2, 1874 he set sail for Madeira on the Lalla Rookh. ", Cardoso Dias, D.M., 1996. He developed the view that the Earth had once been too hot to support life and contrasted this view with that of uniformitarianism, that conditions had remained constant since the indefinite past.