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Baron William Thomson Kelvin
(26 Jun 1824 - 17 Dec 1907)
Irish physicist, mathematician and engineer , born as William Thomson in Ireland, he became an influential physicist, mathematician and engineer who has been described as the Newton of his era.
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Baron William Thomson Kelvin Quotes on Discovery (5 quotes)
>> Click for 55 Science Quotes by Baron William Thomson Kelvin
>> Click for Baron William Thomson Kelvin Quotes on | | Mathematics | Measurement |
>> Click for 55 Science Quotes by Baron William Thomson Kelvin
>> Click for Baron William Thomson Kelvin Quotes on | | Mathematics | Measurement |
Accurate and minute measurement seems to the non-scientific imagination, a less lofty and dignified work than looking for something new. But nearly all the grandest discoveries of science have been but the rewards of accurate measurement and patient long-continued labour in the minute sifting of numerical results.
— Baron William Thomson Kelvin
Presidential inaugural address, to the General Meeting of the British Association, Edinburgh (2 Aug 1871). In Report of the Forty-First Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1872), xci.
Oersted would never have made his great discovery of the action of galvanic currents on magnets had he stopped in his researches to consider in what manner they could possibly be turned to practical account; and so we would not now be able to boast of the wonders done by the electric telegraphs. Indeed, no great law in Natural Philosophy has ever been discovered for its practical implications, but the instances are innumerable of investigations apparently quite useless in this narrow sense of the word which have led to the most valuable results.
— Baron William Thomson Kelvin
From Silvanus Phillips Thompson, 'Introductory Lecture to the Course on Natural Philosophy', The Life of Lord Kelvin (1910), Vol. 1, Appendix to Chap. 5, 249.
Scientific wealth tends to accumulate according to the law of compound interest. Every addition to knowledge of the properties of matter supplies the physical scientist with new instrumental means for discovering and interpreting phenomena of nature, which in their turn afford foundations of fresh generalisations, bringing gains of permanent value into the great storehouse of natural philosophy.
— Baron William Thomson Kelvin
From Inaugural Address of the President to British Association for the Advancement of Science, Edinburgh (2 Aug 1871). Printed in The Chemical News (4 Aug 1871), 24, No. 610., 53.
The life and soul of science is its practical application, and just as the great advances in mathematics have been made through the desire of discovering the solution of problems which were of a highly practical kind in mathematical science, so in physical science many of the greatest advances that have been made from the beginning of the world to the present time have been made in the earnest desire to turn the knowledge of the properties of matter to some purpose useful to mankind.
— Baron William Thomson Kelvin
From 'Electrical Units of Measurement', a lecture delivered at the Institution of Civil Engineers, London (3 May 1883), Popular Lectures and Addresses Vol. 1 (1891), 86-87.
There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement.
— Baron William Thomson Kelvin
Webmaster has searched for a primary print source without success. Walter Isaacson likewise found no direct evidence, as he reports in Einstein (2007), 575. However, these sentences are re-quoted in a variety of books and other sources (often citing them as a remark reportedly made by Kelvin in an Address at the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1900). Although the quote appears noteworthy, it is not included in the major biographical work, the two volumes by Silvanus P. Thomson, The Life of Lord Kelvin (1976). The quote is included here so that this caveat should be read with it.
See also:
- 26 Jun - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Kelvin's birth.
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “I have no satisfaction in formulas” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “I have no satisfaction in formulas” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “Mathematics is … etherealisation of common sense” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “Mathematics is … etherealisation of common sense” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “Measure … and express in numbers” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “Measure … and express in numbers” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “Imaginary difficulty of making a change” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “Imaginary difficulty of making a change” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “Questions of personal priority” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “Questions of personal priority” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “Science is not antagonistic to religion” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “Science is not antagonistic to religion” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “Simplification of modes of proof” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “Simplification of modes of proof” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “Mathematics is the only true metaphysics” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “Mathematics is the only true metaphysics” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- A Kelvin Biography - with more background on Kelvin’s early scholarship in mathematics and his life’s work, from Famous Men of Science.
- Lord Kelvin Biography - one of the earliest pages written for this site.
- A Kelvin Biography - with more background on Kelvin’s early scholarship in mathematics and his life’s work, from Famous Men of Science.
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “Make a mechanical model” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “Make a mechanical model” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “Many of the greatest advances” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “Many of the greatest advances” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “The rewards of accurate measurement” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- William Thomson Kelvin - context of quote “The rewards of accurate measurement” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- Excellent Kelvin Biography history at the BBC education site for the Local Heroes TV series.
- Construction details for "Kelvin's Thunderstorm" - Lord Kelvin's water-drop electrostatic generator..
- Kelvin at three different ages - a photo gallery across his life.
- Collection of pictures of Kelvin at different ages - at the MacTutor site.
- Informative Biography of Kelvin - with additional resources at the MacTutor site.
- History of Submarine Cables - a 150 Year History of Submarine Cables.
- Timeline of Atlantic Cables - 1856 to 2015.
- Lord Kelvin's Conjecture Disproved - A modern improvement on Kelvin's 1887 geometrical conjecture.
- Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy, by David Lindley. - book suggestion.
- Booklist for William Thomson.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
