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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 Measurement (4 quotes)
>> Click for 55 Science Quotes by Baron William Thomson Kelvin
>> Click for Baron William Thomson Kelvin Quotes on | | Discovery | Mathematics |
>> Click for 55 Science Quotes by Baron William Thomson Kelvin
>> Click for Baron William Thomson Kelvin Quotes on | | Discovery | Mathematics |
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.
In physical science a first essential step in the direction of learning any subject is to find principles of numerical reckoning and practicable methods for measuring some quality connected with it. I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely in your thoughts advanced to the stage of science, whatever the matter may be.
Often seen quoted in a condensed form: If you cannot measure it, then it is not science.
Often seen quoted in a condensed form: If you cannot measure it, then it is not science.
— Baron William Thomson Kelvin
From lecture to the Institution of Civil Engineers, London (3 May 1883), 'Electrical Units of Measurement', Popular Lectures and Addresses (1889), Vol. 1, 80-81.
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.
You, in this country [the USA], are subjected to the British insularity in weights and measures; you use the foot, inch and yard. I am obliged to use that system, but must apologize to you for doing so, because it is so inconvenient, and I hope Americans will do everything in their power to introduce the French metrical system. ... I look upon our English system as a wickedly, brain-destroying system of bondage under which we suffer. The reason why we continue to use it, is the imaginary difficulty of making a change, and nothing else; but I do not think in America that any such difficulty should stand in the way of adopting so splendidly useful a reform.
— Baron William Thomson Kelvin
Journal of the Franklin Institute, Nov 1884, 118, 321-341
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) -- 
