The Origin of the British thermal unit

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The Origin of the British thermal unit

The Origin of the British thermal unit

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Scrimshaw

Thanks for the BTU-tiful history lesson, Dan. The early 19th century was full of scientific discovery and the field of thermodynamics was starting to heat up. (At about the same time, Michael Faraday made shocking discoveries in electricity and magnetism. (OK, I'll stop that now.))

Eventually this led to tragedy, as Boltzmann and Ehrenfest and others took thermodynamics and turned it into statistical mechanics. In grad school, I had a textbook by David Goodstein that introduced the subject thus:

"Ludwig Boltzmann, who spent much of his life studying Statistical Mechanics, died in 1906, by his own hand. Paul Ehrenfest, carrying on the work, died similarly in 1933. Now it is our turn to study Statistical Mechanics. Perhaps it will be wise to approach the subject cautiously."

Anyway, I decided to see when the definition of the calorie came about, since it's the same definition with different units. According to Wikipedia, Nicolas Clément came up that one. The year: 1824, same as the first copy of Tredgold's book you cite above. I wonder if it's like Newton and Leibniz both independently inventing the calculus at about the same time. Or maybe Tredgold and Clément were expanding from someone else's work.

Thanks again, Dan. Now I've got to go work on my Turbo-Thermo-Encabulator Max (http://ow.ly/ckTMs). I believe it needs a new Farquhar Flange.

DanHolohan

You always make me smile, my friend. Thanks.

MikeG

Not heating related but Some Specs Live Forever