Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford)

Traveling with the Atom

Allegheny College

Compiled by Glen E. Rodgers
Julie Langsdale
Colby Mangini

Rumford standing infront of his "Rumford fireplace" which became state of the art worldwide.

Benjamin Thompson
(Count Rumford)
American-British physicist (1753-1814)

The Rumford Medal

Contribution to the Development of the Atomic Concept
One of Count Rumford's greatest contribution to science was in 1799 when he founded the Royal Institution in England. He was responsible for introducing the concept of what we now call the mechanical equivelent of heat. He also established the Rumford medal of the Royal Society (pictured above).

Web Sources of
Biographical Information
THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF COUNT RUMFORD
The 1911 Edition Encyclopedia Britannica
The Royal Institution
Wolfram Research Biography

Some Web Sources on the History of Atomic Scientists:
The History of Chemistry 1992 Woodrow Wilson Summer Institute
Selected Classic Papers from the History of Chemistry
Classic Papers from the History of Chemistry (and Some Physics too)
Classic Chemistry compiled by Carmen Giunta
History of Science website by Charlesworth
Center for the History of Physics
Echo Exploring & Collecting History Online
Atom: The Incredible World: The History of Atomistics
Nobel Prize WebPage
Biographies of Famous Chemists, University of Liverpool
University of Pennsylvania Biographies
Chemistry: A History
Famous Scientists greatly who contributed to "electro" science: electricity, electromagnetism,
electrical technology, electronics, electrical telegraphy, radio, electrochemistry, electromedicine, etc.
Elements and Atoms: Case Studies in the Development of Chemistry

Selected Biographical Books, Sections of Books, and Articles
Full biographical information on Sacks' book Uncle Tungsten	Pages in Uncle Tungsten
Full biographical information on Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology	pp. 242-4
Heat is a Form of Motion: An Experiment in Boring Cannon a paper by Benjamin Thompson in 1798.

Amazon.com home page
Barnes and Noble home page

Some Scientific/Historical Traveling Sites
Count Rumford Birthplace	Woburn, Massachusetts
The Royal Institution of Great Britain founded by Count Rumford	The Royal Institution of Great Britain 21 Albemarle Street London W1S 4BS

Find a Grave Website
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* see following Rodgers link to scientific/historical sites for further information.
(1) Taken from The Scientific Traveler, Charles Tanford and Jacqueline, John Wiley & Sons, NY (1992).
(2) Taken from A Travel Guide to Scientific Sites of the British Isles, Charles Tanford and Jacqueline Reynolds, John Wiley & Sons, NY (1995).
(3) Taken from Guide of Eurpoean Museums with collections on History of Chemistry, compiled by Jan W. van Spronsen, Federation of European Societies, Antwerp (1996)

Links to Dr. Rodgers' Scientific/Historical Sites will be available here.

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