William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) was born June 26, 1824 in Belfast, Ireland, and was part of a large family whose mother died when he was six. His father taught Kelvin and his brothers mathematics to a level beyond that of university courses of the time. Kelvin was somewhat of a genius, and had his first papers published in 1840. These papers contained an argument defending the work of Fourier (Fourier transforms), which at the time was being heavily criticized by British scientists. He proved Fourier’s theories to be right. In 1839 Kelv ....