Benjamin Thompson:
Thompson, Benjamin, Count Rumford (1753- 1814), Anglo-American physicist and statesman, best known for his investigations into the nature of heat. He was born in Woburn, Massachusetts Bay Colony. While serving as an apprentice to a storekeeper in Salem, he began conducting various chemical and mechanical experiments. During the American Revolution Thompson was a British sympathizer, and in 1776 he emigrated to England; there he was appointed a clerk in the Office of Foreign Affairs and soon became an undersecretary of state. During this period he continued his scientific studies, investigating the explosive force of gunpowders, developing improvements in firearms and inventing a system of communication between ships at sea. In 1783 he served briefly with the Austrian army against Turkey, and for 11 years he served in administrative offices of the Bavarian civil and military service. In recognition of his service to the Bavarian state he was created a count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1791 and assumed the title of Count Rumford. In 1795 he visited England, and in 1798 settled in London. Six years later Rumford moved to France, where he died.
Rumford is particularly known for his investigations of the nature of heat. In his "Enquiry Concerning the Source of Heat Which Is Excited by Friction," presented to the Royal Society in 1798, he became one of the first scientists to declare that heat is a form of motion rather than a material substance, as was popularly believed until the mid-19th century. Among his numerous scientific contributions are the development of a calorimeter and a photometer.
In 1779 Rumford was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1799 he suggested the establishment of the Royal Institution, which was chartered the next year by King George III of Great Britain. He established and was the first recipient of the Rumford medal of the Royal Society and originated a similar award bearing his name for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He also endowed the Rumford chair of physics at Harvard University.
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