William Thomson, known to history as Lord Kelvin, was granted the first scientific peerage by Queen Victoria in 1892 for his unique consulting work that made possible the installation of the transatlantic cable linking the telegraph systems of America and England. The peerage was created especially for him, taking the name from the Kelvin River near Glasgow, Scotland. Thus, when his proposal for an absolute scale measuring heat was widely accepted, it was given the name Kelvin.

Thomson's life and personality was quite unique. He was a child prodigy who grew up in the environment of academia and became a professor at a young age. Thomson was enthusiastic and dramatic in his teaching style. Known as an expert on the dynamics of heat, he was also noted for having a wide range of interests in the sciences, particularly electricity and magnetism. As a science and technology authority, Thomson was...