THE JOYFUL INVENTOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 80

THE JOYFUL INVENTOR.

THE LIFE-WORK OF LOHD KELVIN. By repute Lord Kelvin, whose' death , robbed the modern scientific world of ite figure-head, had the busiest brain in Britain. • He set out to win his spurs early, \ and his --mental apparatus ■ developed its non-stop peculiarity at the age of 10, when he entered Gilasgow College. j At school he carried all before him in ' mathematics, and then went to Cambridge, , where be proved an undergraduate of an uncommon type. He wa6 keen on sport ; j he won the Colquhqun Scnlls in fine style ; and he was president of the University Medical Society, yet such a sage old head had he on his shoulders that, 1 when he was 17, half the scientific bigwigs in England were talking about him. He was classed as a learned man! -j During the time that he jould spare from the boats,- William Thomson — for this was Lord Kelvin's appellation to , begin with — was inspired to write a paper with this mouthful of a heading : "On the Uniform Motion of Heat in Homogeneous Solid Bodies, and its Connection with the Mathematical Theory of Electricity." An undergraduate who was sufficiently ener- I getic to build up such a title as this was ' bound to attract attention, but it so hap- j pened tjhafc the paper revealed extrat ordinary research and: luiowledge, and' j venerable scientists throughout the British Isles predicted for the author' a brilliant future. I Subsequently the enterprising Thomson, without having recourse to midnight oil r or abandoning his beloved river, blossomed forth as Second Wrangler, a disappointing result which caused one of the examiners to remark that the Senior Wrangler was not worthy to cut William's pencils. ~* I At 22 the amazing William Thomson was appointed' Professor of Natural Philosophy at Glasgow University, and it was not long before he came out with some of his surprise packets. Be was then, as now, the joyful /inventor. He could invent with no less facility than he could , scull. 'There is, or oup-ht to be, a water- , tap over your sink at home. If there is, ; it is extremely probable that it is the tap that was evolved by the subject of this , sketch, for the Kelvin tap is one of the ', taps of the universe — a boon and a blessing to housewives and cooks. - That we should owe a scullery tap to the man who was .responsible for the Atlantic cable is a statement odd enough to be almost incredible, but it is the fact. ! It was Lord Kelyin who rendered the Atlantio able practicable. In the first in- ' stance signals transmitted through a J lengthy submarine cable were so slow in reaching their destination that it was considered doubtful whether they could be made to pay. Indeed, it appeared as if the scheme for uniting Europe and 1 America by wires was doomed to failure, but those chiefly concerned reckoned without the übiquitous Professor at Glasgow. I Thomson rushed Co the rescue. He ■ pointed out how it was that the signals were retarded and how the defect could be remedied ; and not merely this : he designed a cable by which messages could be dispatched at" an adequate speed. , Sundry self-constituted wiseacres scoffed at him for his pains, but the eating of humble pie was their lot. j At this, juncture Lord Kelvin hit upon a new device for the reception of cable , messages. This was his" mirror galvano- 1 , meter, a wonderfully sensitive -contrivance consisting of a -tiny magnet attached to the back of a mirror about the size of your little finger-* nail. The magnet and mirror are suspended in the middle of a coil of insulated wire and 1 a beam of lamplight is reflected from the glass on to a screen. When the current travels throngh the coil the mirror and magne* arrangement 6winge and its iw^ements are seen on

the screen, thus enabling the telegraphist' to understand I ' the message.

This mirror instrument is a veritable masterpiece. So sensitive is it that it is possible to cable to America with a toy battery made in a lady's thimble with » drop of acidulated water and a grain of zinc. This is not fiction, but cold truth. Lord Kelyin, however, was not completely satisfied with his mirror and magnet. It left no permanent record of the signals, so he invented! his "siphon recorder," by means of which a pen drawa on the tape an up-and-down 6ort of line in ink which can be read by the telegraphist.

Lord Kelvin acted as electrician during the laying of the Atlantic cable, and wher_i the. gigantic task was finished a knighthood was conferred upon him/

Scarcely less important than his cables was Lord Kelvin's adjustable compass. Up till late in the seventies ships' compasses were far from being reliable. Lord Kelvin viewed tbetn with strong disfavour, and determined to effect improvements. He succeeded, 'and in doing so contributed to the wholesale saving of life ; but when the instrument was submitted to the Astronomer Royal it was declined with thanks. Nor were the sapient officials at the Admiralty quicker in .appreciating its merits. To<-day, of course, Lord \ Kelvin's compasses are in use in all parts of the world, and no navy is without them.

Lord Kelvin's sounding instrument was for a- time regarded as futile, as was his compass, yet ' it is now absolutely indispensable." It ranks as one of the famous scientist's greatest achievements, for it allows of soundings- being taken without reducing the speed of Jjhe ship. It would be interesting to analyse Lord Kelvin's brain. It is pretty. certain tha* he thought Out the details of his compass while yachting — his favourite amusement, save inventing — but how on earth did it occur to him to produce such ■ a mundane affair as an electric supply meter? -That he has done so many of us are too painfully aware.

Then 30 years ago, by way ot a change, he presented to an astonished public a machine for gauging the level of the tides in any portion of the globe; and also it was repoHed more recently that he 'Sad invented a new tea 6poonl

Lord Kelvin's mental and physical activity was astounding. Of the full extent of his industry- few had the slightest conception, for it was only of bis .triumphs that one heard. On ecores of novel ideas he concentrated his unique faculties only to discover that they were beyond realisation.

Lord Kelvin was connected with Glasgow University for 60 years, during which period innumerabie students passed through his hands. His methods of demonstrating his theories were both quaint and decidedly his own. For example to show that the core- of the earth is solid he suspended a raw egg and a boiled egg and spun them round. As the raw ejrg was first to stop its ' peregrinations, proof was manifested that the core of the earth is not composed of a liquid masg. One day, to puzzle the professor, a student suspended a couple of raw eggs and set them in motion. The trick failed. "None of them boiled," 'said the imperturable Lord Kelvin.

Nine persons out o- 10 are under the impression that Lord Kelvin was a Scotsman. This, is not the case. He was born in Belfast in 182^. but the family removed to Glasgow in 1832, and he was a resident in Scotland ever since.

He received more honorary degrees than any scientist living or dead-, and in 1892 was created Baron Kelvin of Large, in thocounty of Ayr. He was known as the "professor in .a hurry."