Mechanics, thermodynamics, electricity and magnetism, which all became established scientific disciplines in the mid-19th century, constitute what we now know as classical physics. They are subjects that are familiar to generations of physics students and, more importantly, underpinned the developments in mechanical and electrical engineering that subsequently revolutionized the world. These advances in classical physics were dominated by one man -- Lord Kelvin -- who became a pioneer of the emerging technologies of the Victorian era.
As David Lindley's new biography remind us, Kelvin was hailed during his time as one of the most eminent natural philosophers of the age. Moreover, for the past 50 years Kelvin's name has been associated with the unit of absolute temperature. It is surprising therefore that his achievements are today not more widely recognized. Even physicists failed to nominate him in a poll that Physics World carried out to find the greatest physicist of all time (December 1999 pp7 to 13 print edition only)
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