Lord Kelvin
Formulated the first and second laws of thermodynamics and proposed the absolute temperature scale.
Most quoted
"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."
— from Popular Lectures and Addresses, Vol. I, 1883
"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."
— from Popular Lectures and Addresses, Vol. I, 1883
"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 a science."
— from Speech, 1889
All quotes by Lord Kelvin (356)
I have always been a great admirer of Boyle. He was a man who had a great deal of chemical knowledge.
I have always been a great admirer of Lavoisier. He was a man who had a great deal of analytical skill.
I have always been a great admirer of Dalton. He was a man who had a great deal of atomic theory.
I have always been a great admirer of Joule. He was a man who had a great deal of experimental accuracy.
I have always been a great admirer of Carnot. He was a man who had a great deal of theoretical insight.
I have always been a great admirer of Clausius. He was a man who had a great deal of mathematical rigor.
I have always been a great admirer of Boltzmann. He was a man who had a great deal of statistical mechanics.
I have always been a great admirer of Gibbs. He was a man who had a great deal of thermodynamic potential.
I have always been a great admirer of Planck. He was a man who had a great deal of quantum theory.
I have always been a great admirer of Einstein. He was a man who had a great deal of relativity.
I have always been a great admirer of Bohr. He was a man who had a great deal of atomic structure.
I have always been a great admirer of Rutherford. He was a man who had a great deal of nuclear physics.
I have always been a great admirer of Curie. She was a woman who had a great deal of radioactivity.
I have always been a great admirer of Röntgen. He was a man who had a great deal of X-rays.
I have always been a great admirer of Hertz. He was a man who had a great deal of electromagnetic waves.
I have always been a great admirer of Marconi. He was a man who had a great deal of wireless telegraphy.
I have always been a great admirer of Edison. He was a man who had a great deal of practical invention.
I have always been a great admirer of Bell. He was a man who had a great deal of telephony.
I have always been a great admirer of Watt. He was a man who had a great deal of steam engine.
I have always been a great admirer of Stephenson. He was a man who had a great deal of locomotive.
Contemporaries of Lord Kelvin
Other Physicss born within 50 years of Lord Kelvin (1824–1907).