The Work and Correspondences of James Joule INTD 220: History of Physical Sciences, Trajen Cracium, Gabriel Ponce, Morgan Weber Abstract James Joule is a significant 19th century English scientist Cork Ireland 1843: Joule delivers his and whom the unit of energy, the ‘Joule’, is named after. first talk to the British Association His work on the mechanical equivalence of heat redefined for the Advancement of Science and the way scientists viewed heat and laid the foundation for is met by silence. the study of thermodynamics. 1847: Joule presents his paper at This poster maps out the interactions that Joule had Oxford to Faraday, Stokes, and Lord with notable members of the scientific community in Kelvin. Britain and Ireland. The map illustrates Joule’s scientific Greenwich England: Joule measures contacts and shows that scientific progress does not come the work needed to raise 1 lb of from one person, but rather is the result of a collaboration. water from 60 to 61 degrees. This is The timeline below includes notable events in Joule’s life known as the Mechanical as a scientist, the progression of his influence in the Equivalence of Heat community, and some of the discoveries resulting from Joule’s works. Sale England 1889: Joule passes away at the age of 71 after prolonged Lord Kelvin (William Thompson) illness. Location: Glasgow, Scotland Connections: Extremely close friend and colleague of Joule. Expanded on Joule’s work with the mechanical equivalence of heat. Improved upon Joule’s math. Lyon Playfair Location: Lancaster, England James Joule Connections: Personal friend and colleague of Joule. They collaborated on experiments on volume of combined gases. Playfair met Joule at Royal Manchester Society. John Dalton Location: Manchester, England Connections: Dalton was an avid experimentalist and a founder of modern chemistry. Worked as Joule’s private tutor for several years and influenced his methods and experimentation process. Taught Joule geometry, arithmetic and chemistry. From Birth to Death: Joule’s Life and Works Michael Faraday 1850:Joule elected Location: London, England 1838: Joule attempts to 1847: Joule presents his Fellow of the Royal Connection: Professional colleague of paper at Oxford to Faraday, improve the Sturgeon Society 1852:Joule received medal Joule. Joules referred to him in his Stokes, and Lord Kelvin. Engine from Royal Society for 1841 paper regarding magnetic mechanical equivalence of resistance in Sturgeon’s Electro- 1818: Joule Born in 1843: Joule age 25 heat 1889: Joule dies in Magnetic engine. Faraday praised Joule Salford, England 1838: Joule age 20 Sale, England as an experimentalist while berating his 1848: Joule age 30 1853: Joule 1842: Joule elected to Lit lack of philosophical understanding. age 35 and Phil society Bibliography 1847: Publishes 17 Papers 1834: Joule begins his 1852-62: Joule and Thomson Cardwell, D. S. L. 1989. James Joule: a Biography. Manchester: Manchester University Press. on atomic volume with Reynolds, Osbourne. 2011. Memoir of James Prescott Joule. Cambridge Univ Pr. tutelage under Dalton Playfair research and publish findings on Smith, Crosbie. 1998. The Science of Energy: A Cultural History of Energy Physics in Victorian the Joule-Thomson Effect. Britain. London: Athlone..