William John Macquorn Rankine
Civil engineer (1820-1872) · United Kingdom · Scientists · Died at 52
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Something wrong?He gave the steam engine its theoretical foundation - and then built the manuals that kept industrial civilization running for half a century.
A life in dates
Also in Deutsch
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In their own words 8
, Hypothesis Of Molecular Vortices.
This law (regarding the theoretical efficiency of heat engines by Mr.
Of that scientifically practical skill which produces the greatest effect with the least possible expenditure of material and work, the instances are comparatively rare.
Awards
About this person
Born 5 July 1820 in Scotland, Rankine trained as both mathematician and physicist before turning to the young science of thermodynamics in the 1850s. Alongside Clausius and Kelvin, he helped establish its First Law and developed the Rankine temperature scale, a Fahrenheit analogue to Kelvin's. His complete theory of heat engines - steam and otherwise - appeared in engineering manuals published through the 1850s and 1860s that remained standard texts for decades. From 1840 onward he published several hundred papers across botany, music theory, number theory, and nearly every major branch of science and engineering. He played cello, piano, sang, and shot rifles. He died 24 December 1872.
Scientists from the United Kingdom 6
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