‘Mr Secretary, Colonel, Admiral, Philosopher Thompson’: the European odyssey of Count Rumford

Abstract

Benjamin Thompson, better known as Count Rumford, discovered the mechanical equivalent of heat. He was also soldier, administrator, founder of the Royal Institution in London and the English Garden in Munich. Fellow of the Royal Society and Membre de l'Institut, his career embraced rural New England, London society, service to the Elector of Bavaria and an unhappy marriage in Paris to the widow of Antoine Lavoisier.