Professor of Anatomy and Chemistry in Glasgow University (1756) and then Professor of Medicine and Chemistry in Edinburgh (1766). Today the chemistry buildings at both universities are named after him. Invented the Analytical Balance c. 1750. In 1751 he developed the concept of “Latent Heat“, the theory of which marks the beginning of thermodynamics, and discovered Carbon Dioxide (“Fixed Air“).

In 1846 he became professor of natural philosophy at Glasgow University, a post he would hold for more than fifty years. In Glasgow he created the first physics laboratory in Britain. He formulated the two great laws of thermodynamics. Evolved theory of electrical oscillations. Propounded the “law of squares”. The important notion of absolute zero. Invented improvements in cables and galvanometers which were vital to the success of the Atlantic telegraph cables. Improvements to the mariner’s compass. Invented sounding gauges, tide predictors, etc, etc.

Born Edinburgh, Scotland. He was a civil engineer, physicist and mathematician, and a founding contributor to the science of thermodynamics.