The physics lecturer and science writer Silvanus P. Thompson (1851-1916) published this two-volume account of Kelvin's life and discoveries in 1910, three years after the famous scientist's death. Volume 1 describes Kelvin's youth, and his career to 1871, including his work on thermodymanics, telegraphs and geological time.

A comprehensive biography, first published in 1910, of the influential mathematician and physicist William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (1824 1907).