Why Lord Kelvin, a genius of historic importance, should be better known in Scotland

Lord Kelvin, pictured in 1902, was a mathematician and physicist who made huge contributions to science (Image by artist James Craig Annan/The Print Collector) | Getty Images

Nineteenth-century scientist William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, is today best known for the temperature scale named for him after he published a paper correctly stating that ‘absolute zero’ – the lowest possible temperature – was minus 273 degrees Celsius. However Kelvin, Glasgow University’s chair of natural philosophy for 53 years, really should be more famous, given the extraordinary scale and diversity of his achievements.

He helped create the science of thermodynamics; he calculated the effects of the oceans and ice sheets on the Earth’s climate; he was the “father of refrigeration”; his work on electrical frequency paved the way for radio; he was a pioneer of electric light; and he even invented a dripless tap. There’s lots more.

Marking 200 years since his birth, Glasgow University has now digitally recreated a 19th-century laboratory based on historic photographs of his labs, complete with scientific instruments and artefacts that he used, all “illuminated by the glow of early electric lighting”.

Using virtual reality, we have a chance to travel back in time and walk in the footsteps of a genius of historic importance. Who could resist?