Popular Lectures and Addresses

William Thomson, Baron Kelvin (1824–1907), was educated at Glasgow and Cambridge. While only in his twenties, he was awarded the University of Glasgow's chair in natural philosophy, which he was to hold for over fifty years. He is best known through the Kelvin, the unit of measurement of temperature named after him in consequence of his development of an absolute scale of temperature. These volumes collect together Kelvin's lectures for a wider audience. In a convivial but never condescending style, he outlines a range of scientific subjects to audiences of his fellow scientists. The range of topics covered reflects Kelvin's broad interests and his stature as one of the most eminent of Victorian scientists. Volume 2 is mainly concerned with geology and was actually published last, in 1894. It includes additional lectures given between 1866 and 1893 that were not included in the other two volumes.

12. Protection of vegetation from cold; 13. The 'doctrine of uniformity' in geology briefly refuted; 14. On geological time; 15. On geological dynamics; 16. Presidential address to the British Association, Edinburgh, 1871; 17. Presidential address to the Society of Telegraph Engineers, 1874; 18. Review of evidence regarding the physical condition of the earth; 19. Geological climate; 20. The internal condition of the earth as to temperature, fluidity, and rigidity; 21. Polar ice-caps and their influence in changing sea levels; 22. On the rate of a clock or chronometer as influenced by the mode of suspension; 23. On a new astronomical clock; 24. On beats of imperfect harmonies; 25. On the origin and transformation of motive power; 26. On the sources of energy in nature available to man for the production of mechanical effect; 27. On the dissipation of energy; 28. The Bangor laboratories; 29. Presidential addresses; 30. Address delivered on the occasion of the unveiling of Joule's statue in Manchester Town Hall; 31. Isoperimetrical problems; Index.

William Thomson, Baron Kelvin (1824-1907), was one of the most important Victorian scientists. These volumes collect together Kelvin's lectures for a wider audience. Volume 2 is mainly concerned with geology but also includes other lectures given between 1866 and 1893.