Today in Technology History
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March 26
Today our focus is on Benjamin Thompson, better known as Count Rumford. Born exactly 250 years ago, he was an inventor -- as well as a spy, government official, diplomat, physicist and philanthropist.
Thompson was born on March 26, 1753 in Massachusetts. He received only two years of formal education and spent three years apprenticed to a merchant. Clearly believing himself destined for greater things, he taught himself such gentlemanly subjects as French, fencing and philosophy. He was 19 years old when he married a wealthy widow 14 years his senior. The marriage lasted just two years, but it brought him the money and social status he lacked.
We haven't the time or space to describe Thompson's entire career, but we can hit a few highlights. During the Revolutionary War, he spied on the Americans for the British. He moved to England and held several important titles under King George III (including Minister of War, Minister of the Interior, and Royal Scientist to the King). He was made the English ambassador to Bavaria, but then decided to serve as a Bavarian government administrator, a position that allowed him to test his theories for social reform. (At one point, he had all the beggars in Munich arrested and put in workhouses.)
Meanwhile, in the midst of all these jobs, Thompson somehow found time for scientific experimentation. He spent years studying and writing about gunpowder. He was the first to propose the (correct) idea that heat is actually a form of motion -- as opposed to a mysterious invisible liquid called "caloric," as was then believed. He invented a new kind of fireplace and stove, and his research on the movement of heat led him to invent new military uniforms (and other clothes) that better retained heat. He invented the drip coffeepot, as well as new kinds of chimneys and double-boilers. He also invented a photometer (for measuring the brightness of light), a calorimeter (for measuring combustible energy), and a new type of oil lamp.
Thompson later moved back to London, then to Paris. For his many accomplishments, he was knighted by England, and later made a count of the Holy Roman Empire. (He chose the name Count Rumford, since he used to live in Rumford, New Hampshire -- later known as Concord.) A second marriage -- again to a widow; her first husband had been Antoine Lavoisier, the father of chemistry -- also lasted just two years. Thompson helped to found the Royal Institution (a scientific organization), and he gave his fortune to the Royal Society (another scientific organization), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Harvard University.
Count Rumford died in 1814 at the age of 61.
Related link:
Click here to read more about Count Rumford and his inventions.
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