James Thomson (engineer)

JamesThomson (1822-1892)

James Thomson (born February 16, 1822 in Belfast , † May 8, 1892 in Glasgow ) was an Irish engineer , physicist and inventor , whose importance is outshone by his younger brother William Thomson , known as "Lord Kelvin".

Life

He was born in Belfast but grew up in Glasgow most of the time. His father, James Thomson , had been a math professor at the University of Glasgow since 1832 . The son attended university from a young age and graduated with excellent grades as a teenager. He then did several short practical training courses with engineers in various fields and then spent a long time studying theoretical and mathematical studies, often with his brother in Glasgow. In his late twenties he started his own business as an engineer specializing in water transport. In 1855 he became Professor of Civil Engineering at Queen's University of Belfast , where he stayed until 1873 when he was appointed to the chair of Regius Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics in Glasgow , where he was the predecessor of the influential William Rankine . He retired in 1889 and died in 1892.

James Thomson is known for his work on improving water wheels, water pumps and turbines, as well as for his innovations in the study of the regulation , the influence of pressure on the freezing point of water. He also studied in the glaciology the movement of glaciers, where he works by James David Forbes extended. He also studied the experimental work of his colleague Thomas Andrews on the continuity of liquid and gaseous matter, and strengthened the understanding of it by applying his good knowledge of thermodynamics. He also made contributions to the field of river flow dynamics and geology.

James Thomson's major research papers in physics and engineering were republished in a 500-page collection after his death. This is freely available online (see below). It also contains a longer (80 pages) and a shorter biography (10 pages). It also says that Thomson was the first to use the words radian, interface and apocentric in English, although he also used numerous neologisms that did not catch on .

His inventions include a diffuser for Francis turbines and the Thomson weir . He is also associated with preliminary work on the invention of the refrigerator , which may be more attributable to his brother William.

Fonts

• Collected Papers in Physics and Engineering of James Thomson ( DjVu ; 15 MB)
• Joseph Larmore, James Thomson (Eds.): Collected Papers in Physics and Engineering of James Thomson . Cambridge University Press, 1912
• Collected Papers in Physics and Engineering (PDF) by James Thomson, D.Sc., LL.D, FRS, Professor of Engineering in Queen's College, Belfast and Afterwards in The University of Glasgow; Selected and Arranged with unpublished material and brief annotations by Sir Joseph Larmor , D.Sc., LL.D., Sec. RS, MP, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge and James Thomson, MA; Cambridge University Press, 1912.

literature

• Lance Day, Ian McNeil: Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology .
• Thomson, James . [physicist] . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 26 : Submarine Mines - Tom-Tom . London 1911, p. 874 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).