Selected works by Lord Kelvin (Sir William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs). Collected from various sources, mostly on the Internet. (Note: I cannot verify that these copies are error free; use a primary source if accuracy is needed. Articles whose titles are not known to me will have ad hoc titles in quotes. Articles marked "Excerpt" only contain passages that I have found from the complete work. Email me any corrections or additions, please.)
For more information on Lord Kelvin, see:
Papers, Lectures, & Addresses:—
Reports & News Clippings:—
Other Assorted Writings:—
Lord Kelvin In Fiction:—
- Edison's Conquest of Mars — Lord Kelvin appears as a character in this unauthorized sequal to War of the Worlds. By Garrett P. Serviss. [1898]
- Madame Curie — Biopic about the Curies. C. Aubrey Smith plays Lord Kelvin. [1943]
- Lord Kelvin's Machine — Lord Kelvin creates a magnetic-pole-reversal-time-machine to stop a comet. By James Blaylock. [1992]
- Tesla: The Modern Sorcerer — A fictionalized account of the life of Nikola Tesla. Includes fictional dialog between Lord Kelvin, Tesla, and Edison based on contemporary reports. By Daniel Blair Stewart. [1999]
- Around the World in 80 Days — A Disney film starring Jackie Chan. Lord Kelvin, played by Jim Broadbent, is the villain. The movie also spawned a videogame in which Kelvin appears. [2004]
Other Sources:—
- Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy — Complete book online in Openbook format.
- The Life of William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs: Vol 1 & Vol 2 — By Silvanus Phillips Thompson [1910]. Available in a number of formats.
- Google Book Search has a large number of copyright-expired books that can be read online or downloaded in PDF format. Writings by or about Kelvin include:
- The French National Library has a number of Kelvin's published works online in PDF format (scanned images of the original editions, available one page at a time). Not very easy to link to, unfortunately. On the "Recherche" (search) section, use the "Recherche libre" (search book) field to find "Kelvin" or "Thomson". As far as I can tell, "Recherche libre" only searches the table of contents/index, not the full document text. If you know the name of the work, you can find it with that. Items of note:
- Elements of Natural Philosophy Part I
- Mathematical and Physical Papers Vols I-III
- Reprint of Papers on Electrostatics and Magnetism
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London (journal), various volumes
- Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (journal), various volumes
- Report of the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (journal), various volumes
- Brooklyn Daily Eagle — Searchable old newspaper. Where "Danger in Hair Washes" and "Light from Sweepings" came from.
- Cornell University: Making of America — A searchable collection of scanned books and journals from 19th century America. Some reprinted Kelvin pieces to be found, mostly in the journal The Manufacturer and Builder.
- British Library Online Newspaper Archive — Not as impressive as it sounds... Only a demo site for Olive Software's ActivePaper with a handfull of papers online. However, if you search for "Kelvin" you'll find a recount of his call in 1900 to remove Ritualist influence from British schools.