Cornerstone of physics

Thomson was professor of natural philosophy at Glasgow University for 53 years, making revolutionary contributions to physics, mathematics and engineering that still resonate today.

He is probably best known for his work on energy and the laws of thermodynamics, the science of heat and work, which are often hailed as the most unbreakable laws of nature.

Perhaps Thomson’s most well known discovery is the concept of absolute zero on the temperature scale, which is named Kelvin in honour of the title he would receive in 1892.

Thomson’s lifelong talent for inventing ingenious scientific instruments secured him 70 patents, enabled dozens of scientific breakthroughs and made him a highly successful entrepreneur.

Third, there was Thomson’s outstanding ability to think “out of the box”, to look at a problem in a completely novel way. For me, there is no better example of that visionary thinking than Thomson’s work on laying the first transatlantic telegraph cable.