Temperature > 16 - Willian Thomson (Lorde Kelvin)

He was a British mathematician and physicist. He was born in 1824 and died in 1907. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, with the name William Thomson. At the age of 68, he would receive the title of nobility as First Baron Kelvin of Largs, due to the great importance of his scientific work.

At the age of 8, Kelvin already attended the lectures of his father, who was a mathematician. While still a teenager, he would write his first paper in this area. When this study was presented at the branch of the Royal Society (in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he was studying at the time), they thought it would be more convenient for it to be read by an older professor, so that the audience would not feel uncomfortable attending a lecture given by someone so young. At the age of 17, he went to study at the University of Cambridge, in England, and after graduating he moved to France, where he did his postgraduate studies.

The properties of heat were one of Kelvin's favorite systems. He analyzed in more depth the discoveries of Jacques Charles on the variation in the volume of gases as a function of the variation in temperature. Charles had concluded, based on experiments and calculations, that at a temperature of -273ºC all gases would have a volume equal to zero. Kelvin proposed another conclusion: it was not the volume of matter that would be zero at this temperature, but rather the kinetic energy of its molecules. He then suggested that this temperature should be considered the lowest possible and called it absolute zero. Based on this, he proposed a new thermometric scale (which was later called the Kelvin scale), which would allow greater simplicity in the mathematical expression of the relationships between thermodynamic quantities.

Kelvin also concluded, analyzing the work of the Frenchman Carnot, that it is impossible to use all the energy of a system in the form of work. Some of this energy is inevitably lost in the form of heat. In industry, his studies contributed to the manufacture of better galvanometers and electrical cables, and led to the laying of a telegraph cable between Europe and North America at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean (the success of this venture led to his being awarded a noble title). He was also responsible for the establishment of the telephone service in Great Britain and, in 1890, was elected president of the Royal Society.

All this involvement with science, however, did not prevent him from opposing the new discoveries of radioactive decay at the end of his life. When he died, he left no heirs. As had happened with Newton, he was buried with great honors in Westminster Abbey (normally reserved for very important figures, such as monarchs). Their tombstones are next to each other.