Count rumford biography of williams

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The Life Of Count Rumford: A Lecture Given In The Lyceum Course Of 1872-3, At Woburn, Mass., January 21st, 1873

William S. Barnes

Printed by J.L. Parker, 1873

Biography & Autobiography; General; Biography & Autobiography / General

SCIENTIST, inventor, innovator, spy, soldier of fortune--admired, despised, honored, vilified--Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, a New Englander by birth: Who was this man? If you were to saunter along the walkway from the vicinity of Observatory Hill on the Dartmouth College campus toward the rear entrance at the second level of Fairchild Tower or hasten to class along the corridor on the main level of Wilder Laboratory, you would see, straight ahead, a colorful mosaic portraying this unusual character and his unique contributions to science and society. This artistic creation was commissioned by Sanborn Conner Brown 1935, and executed by David P. Holleman of Lexington, Massachusetts. It now hangs in the tower of the Sherman Fairchild Physical Sciences Center, along with paintings, sculptures, and photomurals, among instruments and apparatus from the Dartmouth College Collection of Historical Scientific Apparatus.

Benjamin Thompson was born a farmer's son on 26 March 1753 in North Woburn, Massachusetts; his father died before the boy was two years old. During his boyhood years, Thompson had limited schooling. Largely self-taught, as he grew older he sought information from friends and acquaintances. His inquisitive mind led him to pose scientific questions at an early age. But at thirteen, he apprenticed as a clerk to an importer and later worked for a dry-goods merchant. Then he became an apprentice to Doctor John Hay of Woburn, to learn the science and art of medicine.

None of these occupations were appealing to Thompson. So, early in 1772, he left Woburn to teach school in Bradford, Massachusetts. There he also began a serious study of science under the Reverend Samuel Williams, who later would become Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard College. Not satisfied with

American-born British military officer and scientist

For other people named Benjamin Thompson, see Benjamin Thompson (disambiguation).

ColonelSir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, FRS (26 March 1753 – 21 August 1814), was an American-born British military officer, scientist, inventor and nobleman. Born in Woburn, Massachusetts, he supported the Loyalist cause during the American War of Independence, commanding the King's American Dragoons during the conflict. After the war ended in 1783, Thompson moved to London, where he was recognised for his administrative talents and received a knighthood from George III in 1784.

A prolific scientist and inventor, Thompson also created several new warship designs. He subsequently moved to the Electorate of Bavaria and entered into the employ of the Bavarian government, heavily reorganising the Bavarian Army. Thompson was rewarded for his efforts by being made an Imperial Count in 1792 before dying in Paris in 1814.

Early years

Thompson was born in rural Woburn, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, on 26 March 1753; his birthplace is preserved as a museum. He was educated mainly at the village school, although he sometimes walked almost ten miles to Cambridge with the older Loammi Baldwin to attend lectures by Professor John Winthrop of Harvard College. At the age of 13 he was apprenticed to John Appleton, a merchant of nearby Salem. Thompson excelled at his trade, and coming in contact with refined and well educated people for the first time, adopted many of their characteristics including an interest in science. While recuperating in Woburn in 1769 from an injury, Thompson conducted his first experiments studying the nature of heat and began to correspond with Baldwin and others about them. Later that year he worked several months for a Boston shopkeeper and then apprenticed himself briefly, and unsuccessfully, to a doctor in Woburn.

Thompson's prospects were

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