James Prescott Joule
James Prescott Joule (December 24, 1818 - October 11, 1889) was a British physicist whose research was pivotal to the establishment of thermodynamics. He is best known for demonstrating the mechanical equivalent of heat, showing that heat is a form of energy rather than a material substance. His experiments led to the formulation of the law of conservation of energy and to the Joule effect, which describes heat generation by an electric current passing through a conductor. In his honor, the SI unit of energy is named the joule \(\left(\textrm{J}\right)\).
Quotes
- My object has been, first to discover correct principles and then to suggest their practical development.