London: C.J. Clay and sons, 1904. 8vo. xxi, 5-694 pp. FIRST EDITION. Complete with errata leaf and additional errata slip bound in. Numerous text illustrations throughout. Original cloth, somewhat worn, possibly rebacked with the original laid on, gilt on upper edge; interior in good condition. Item #14393
First edition of this series of lectures in which the author attempts to formulate a physical model for the aether, an extremely valuable medium that would support the electromagnetic waves that were becoming increasingly import to the explanation of radioactive phenomena.
Thomson was one of the foremost among the small group of British scientists who helped lay the foundation of modern physics. His contributions to science included a major role in the development of the second law of thermodynamics; the absolute temperature scale (measured in Kelvin’s); the dynamical theory of heat; the mathematical analysis of electricity and magnetism, including the basic ideas for the electromagnetic theory of light; the geophysical determination of the age of the earth; and fundamental work in hydrodynamics.
Thomson (1824-1907), Scottish engineer, mathematician, and physicist, who profoundly influenced the scientific thought of his generation, was also the first to suggest that there were mathematical analogies between kinds of energy. His success as a synthesizer of theories about energy places him in the same position in nineteenth century physics that Newton has in seventeen century physics or Einstein in the twentieth century.