William Rankine
| William John Macquorn Rankine | |
|---|---|
William John Macquorn Rankine
|
|
| Born |
5 July 1820 Edinburgh |
| Died | 24 December 1872 (aged 52) Glasgow |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Fields | Physics, Engineering |
| Institutions | University of Glasgow |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
| Known for | Thermodynamics, civil engineering |
| Influenced | Pierre Duhem |
| Notable awards | Keith Medal (1854) |
William John Macquorn Rankine, FRSE FRS (/ˈræŋkɪn/; 5 July 1820 – 24 December 1872) was a Scottish mechanical engineer who also contributed to civil engineering, physics and mathematics. He was a founding contributor, with Rudolf Clausius and William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), to the science of thermodynamics, particularly focusing on the first of the three thermodynamic laws.
Rankine developed a complete theory of the steam engine and indeed of all heat engines. His manuals of engineering science and practice were used for many decades after their publication in the 1850s and 1860s. He published several hundred papers and notes on science and engineering topics, from 1840 onwards, and his interests were extremely varied, including, in his youth, botany, music theory and number theory, and, in his mature years, most major branches of science, mathematics and engineering. He was an enthusiastic amateur singer, pianist and cellist who composed his own humorous songs. He was born in Edinburgh and died in Glasgow, a bachelor.
Born in Edinburgh to British Army lieutenant David Rankine and Barbara Grahame, of a prominent legal and banking family. Rankine was initially educated at home but he later attended Ayr Academy (1828-9) and, very briefly, the High School of Glasgow (1830). Around 1830 the family moved to Edinburgh; in 1834 he studied at a Military and Naval Academy with the mathematician George Lees; by that year he was already highly proficient in mathematics and received, as a gift from his uncle, Newton's Principia (1687) in the original Latin.
...
Wikipedia