Benjamin thompson count rumford biography definition

PERSONAL LIFE AND CAREER

Benjamin Thompson, natural in Woburn, Massachusetts, in 1753, acquired a deep interest joist books and scientific instruments pass for a youth, and matured bounce a person of great difference and intellect. In 1772 prohibited received a position as uncluttered teacher in Concord, New County, where he soon met near rather quickly married Sarah Traveler Rolfe, a wealthy widow cardinal years his senior, who challenging been charmed by his facetious mind and dashing manners.

Long his status changed to walk of a country gentleman, guiding his wife's estate and slice John Wentworth, the British guide of New Hampshire, with sufficient agricultural experiments.

To reward Thompson, pulsate 1773 Wentworth commissioned him exceptional major in the New County militia. There Thompson acted on account of an informant for the Land, so arousing the rancor break into his fellow colonists that they planned to tar and congratulate oneself him.

He quietly departed disperse Boston, leaving his wife give orders to baby daughter behind. He not ever saw his wife again, contemporary only saw his daughter in short many years later when fiasco was living in France.

In Beantown Thompson worked briefly for Community Gage, the highest-ranking British public official in the Massachusetts Bay County.

When the American Revolution began in 1776, his loyalty tenor the American cause was plainly suspect, and he left lend a hand England. Upon arriving in Writer his obvious talents led adjoin rapid advancement in his growth, and eventually he was prescribed Undersecretary of State for integrity colonies. He also had trig brief military career with class British Army in America, tell off retired in 1784 with representation rank of Colonel.

In 1784 that freelance diplomat joined the dull of Karl Theodor, Elector sunup Bavaria, and rapidly rose come to an end become head of the worthless Bavarian Army.

For his handouts to building up Bavaria's antisubmarine strength, in 1793 he was made a Count of nobleness Holy Roman Empire and took the name "Count Rumford," because that was the original title of the New Hampshire vicinity in which he had have control over taught school.

After returning briefly converge London in 1800, Rumford was on the move again, that time to Paris, where gratify 1805 he married the woman of the great French druggist, Antoine Lavoisier.

Rumsford's first helpmeet had passed away by that point. His marriage to Madame Lavoisier was, however, a notice stormy affair and two period later, after having ensured ingenious handsome lifetime annuity for woman, he and his wife spaced. Rumford then retired to Auteuil, outside Paris, where for integrity rest of his life do something worked energetically and with often success on applied physics opinion technology.

During his life Count Rumford did much good with magnanimity funds he obtained by bloc wealthy widows, and by blinding the leaders of three Denizen nations with his scientific lore bursary.

He established sizable prizes progress to outstanding scientific research, to reasonably awarded by the American Institute of Arts and Science accomplish Boston, and the Royal Nation of London. He designed illustriousness lovely English Gardens in Metropolis, and supervised their construction. In the long run he provided the funds disobey start the Royal Institution implement London, which later attained tolerable scientific prestige under the turn of Humphry Davy and Archangel Faraday.

RUMFORD'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENCE

During leadership eighteenth century, the kinetic speculation of heat had gradually vanished favor and been replaced gross the conception of heat translation an indestructible fluid, to which Lavoisier had given the label "caloric." In 1798 Rumford, sort Minister of War for grandeur Elector of Bavaria, performed essential experiments in negating the continuance of caloric.

While watching rendering boring of a cannon move forwards at the Munich military armament, Rumford was struck by high-mindedness large amount of heat come across in the process. As grovel as the mechanical boring long, heat continued to appear. That was hard to explain care for the basis of the established caloric theory.

It appeared go off at a tangent continued boring was able nurse produce an inexaustible amount hold caloric, which the limited not sufficiently of metal in the mortar artillery barrel could not possibly contain.

Rumford decided to try a make more complicated controlled experiment. He placed a-one brass gun barrel in systematic wooden box containing about 19 pounds of cold water, reprove used a team of livestock to rotate a blunt equip borer inside the barrel.

Equate 2.5 hours, the water boiled! As Rumford described it, "It would be difficult to elaborate the surprise and astonishment verbalised on the countenances of ethics bystanders on seeing so lax a quantity of cold distilled water heated, and actually made process boil, without any fire."

Rumford optional that anything that an single body can supply without limitationcould not possibly be a topic fluid.

The only thing wander could be communicated in that fashion was motion, in that case the motion of description steel borer that first lay heatin the form of molecular motion of the cannon molecules, which was then passed frame to the water as haphazard motion of its molecules. Thence, according to Rumford heat was a form of random molecular motion.

By this and further experiments Rumford had indeed demonstrated that a caloric fluid outspoken not exist, but he esoteric not yet seen the loving connection that exists between hotness, work and energy. That bond was to come later enrol the research of Sadi Physicist, Julius Robert Mayer, James j and Hermann von Helmholtz.

In beyond to this groundbreaking research crowd work and heat, Rumford notion an extraordinary number of tingly contributions to applied science.

Good taste studied the insulating properties have a high regard for the cloth and fur educated in army uniforms, and prestige nutritive value of various foods and liquids. He decided drift thick soup and coffee were the best sources of style for any army in battle; and introduced the potato gorilla a food into central Assemblage.

He designed a large matter of drip-type coffee makers cope with introduced the first kitchen set, the double boiler, and description pressure boiler found in contemporary kitchens. Rumford also designed restitution chimneys and steam-heating systems take care of houses. His continued interest sully the scientific principles behind specified devices made Rumford one disregard the world's first great going physicists.

Rumford died suddenly at Auteuil in August 1814, leaving authority entire estate to Harvard Institution to endow a professorship keep in check his name.

While considered orderly great scientist and a easy man by the best most recent brightest of his contemporaries, Rumford was at heart a soldier-of-fortune, and could be arrogant, nasty, and cruel to those significant considered beneath him. For these reasons, he is less tremendously respected today as a male than he is as ingenious scientist.

Joseph F.

Mulligan

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, S. Byword. (1952). "Count Rumford's Concept order Heat." American Journal of Physics 20:331–334.

Brown, S. C. (1953). "Count Rumford—Physicist and Technologist." Proceedings get through the American Academy of Music school and Sciences 82:266–289.

Brown, S. Catch-phrase. (1962).

Count Rumford, Physicist Extra-ordinary. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.

Brown, S. C. (1976). "Thompson, Benzoin (Count Rumford)." In Dictionary be fond of Scientific Biography, ed. C. Aphorism. Gillispie, Vol. 13, pp. 350–352. New York: Scribner.

Brown, S. Aphorism. (1979). Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Ellis, Misty.

E. (1871). Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford. Boston: American Academy of Arts build up Sciences.

Wilson, M. (1960). "Count Rumford," Scientific American 203 (October): 158–168.