Bronze bust of Lord Kelvin with original stand, 1896

Bronze bust of Lord Kelvin with original stand, 1896 Bronze bust of Lord Kelvin with original stand, 1896 Bronze bust of Lord Kelvin with original stand, 1896 Bronze bust of Lord Kelvin with original stand, 1896 Bronze bust of Lord Kelvin with original stand, 1896

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

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License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

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License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-SA 4.0 Licence

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Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Bronze bust of Lord Kelvin with original stand by A. McFarlane Shannan, Glasgow, 1896.

William Thomson, later Baron Kelvin of Largs (1824-1907), was an Irish physicist and mathematician who became one of the world's greatest nineteenth-century scientists. He was a key figure in the development of the first transatlantic telegraph cable and invented many important scientific instruments. He was born in Belfast in 1824, and attended lectures at Glasgow University when he was just 10. In 1841 he became a student of St Peter's College, University of Cambridge, where he published 11 papers over the course of his undergraduate career. He became Professor of Natural Philosophy at Glasgow University in 1846. He was made director of the Atlantic Telegraph Company in 1856, and was on board the HMS 'Agamemnon' when the 1857 attempt at a transatlantic telegraph cable was being laid. His mirror galvanometer, a sensitive instrument for detecting electrical signals, made long-distance submarine cables a practical and commercial proposition.

Details

Category:
Telecommunications
Object Number:
1969-296
Materials:
bronze (copper, tin alloy)
Measurements:
Bust: 710 mm x 540 mm x 360 mm, 42kg
type:
portrait bust
credit:
Donated by the North Eastern Telegraph Board