We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2012
WILLIAM THOMSON BEFORE CAMBRIDGE
To thought and feelings seas and continents present no barriers … They roam at will to the uttermost parts of the earth. Though to those around me I appear to be seated in our little parlour at Knock beside a blazing fire before which three apples are roasting and diffusing an agreable fragrance around … in spirit I am with you in your solitary study, looking over your shoulder while you are unravelling the mazy intricacies of a mathematical problem. There you sit all absorbed, deep thought broods upon your brow. Now you pause and look with earnest eyes at the vacant wall, and now with sudden inspiration you turn to commit the happy thought to paper which lies before you. Your fire is almost out, your candle is unsnuffed, your once hot tea stands untasted before you on your table.
So in October 1842 wrote Elizabeth Thomson, aged twenty-four, to her brother William, aged eighteen, an undergraduate in Peterhouse. The letter reveals the intelligence and sensitivity characteristic of the family, and the close affection that bound its members together; it helps to explain the soaring trajectory of William's career at Cambridge and after. He was to become a famous scientist, and Lord Kelvin. There were six siblings, two girls and four boys. Their mother, Margaret, died in 1830, when William was six. Their father, James, came from humble Ulster Presbyterian stock. At first largely self-educated, he proceeded like so many Ulstermen to Glasgow University; and after teaching at the Belfast Academical Institution he became Professor of Mathematics at Glasgow in 1832.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
