James Thomson Bottomley

James Thomson Bottomley FRS FRSE (10 January 1845 – 18 May 1926) was an Irish-born physicist. He is noted for his work on thermal radiation and on his creation of 4-figure logarithm tables, used to convert long multiplication and division calculations to simpler addition and subtraction before the introduction of fast calculators.

He was born in Fort Breda, County Down in Ireland, on 10 January 1845, the son of William Bottomley JP, a merchant in nearby Belfast. His mother, Anna Thomson, was the sister of William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, a connection which served him well throughout his life.

He was educated at Queens College, Belfast and then Trinity College, Dublin, originally studying natural philosophy and chemistry. His first employment was as assistant to scientist Thomas Andrews in Belfast. He then became a Demonstrator at King's College London, first in chemistry and then in physics. In 1870 he became a Demonstrator in Physics at Glasgow University. In 1875 this was retitled the Arnott and Thomson Demonstrator in Experimental Physics, following a bequest from the widow of Neil Arnott.

In 1872 his uncle Lord Kelvin proposed him as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and this was duly accepted. In June 1888 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in London.

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