Excerpt from The Life of William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs, Vol. 1 of 2 This Biography was begun in June 1906 with the kind co-operation of Lord Kelvin, who himself furnished a number of personal recollections and data. His death in December 1907 affected the project of the work by necessarily extending its scope to present a much more comprehensive account of his career than the sketch originally planned. The mass of letters, diaries, and other documents which he left became available for filling in the outlines, and the task of arrangement and selection from these greatly extended the period of preparation. The sympathy which has been so universally felt for Lady Kelvin in her prolonged illness and gradual recovery has manifested itself in many ways; and various friends have lightened for the author the responsibility of dealing with the available materials out of which to frame an authentic record of Lord Kelvin's long and strenuous career. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

A comprehensive biography, first published in 1910, of the influential mathematician and physicist William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (1824-1907).

Excerpt from The Life of William Thomson: Baron Kelvin of Largs Whatever of the above is to be had best from Belfast, will you order it for me? For the rest, any hints you can give will be gratefully received. I am not unconscious (but as much as possible the reverse) that I am asking a very great benefit, and taking advantage to the utmost of the promise you gave me to help me, when I write so troublesome a list of wants. But you must allow me absolutely to restrict your kind ness to-ordering the things for me, and directing that the hemming and marking be done by the people who supply them, and who certainly will, if required, find persons ready to undertake those works. The Committee on Ships of War will continue its sittings during May, and I am afraid much of June, partly in London and partly at sea with the Channel Fleet. So I must give up Teneriffe for this year, which I do with great regret. Will you tell Guthriel that I hope for another visit from him before May, as we got scarcely anything of the books done last time, there was so much time wasted on tops, etc. Could he not come from Ap. 18 to 27, which would include an opening cruise of the L. R. To Arran, Friday till Monday P - Yours always truly, william thomson. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Strength of materials is that branch of engineering concerned with the deformation and disruption of solids when forces other than changes in position or equilibrium are acting upon them. The development of our understanding of the strength of materials has enabled engineers to establish the forces which can safely be imposed on structure or components, or to choose materials appropriate to the necessary dimensions of structures and components which have to withstand given loads without suffering effects deleterious to their proper functioning. This excellent historical survey of the strength of materials with many references to the theories of elasticity and structures is based on an extensive series of lectures delivered by the author at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California. Timoshenko explores the early roots of the discipline from the great monuments and pyramids of ancient Egypt through the temples, roads, and fortifications of ancient Greece and Rome. The author fixes the formal beginning of the modern science of the strength of materials with the publications of Galileo's book, "Two Sciences," and traces the rise and development as well as industrial and commercial applications of the fledgling science from the seventeenth century through the twentieth century. Timoshenko fleshes out the bare bones of mathematical theory with lucid demonstrations of important equations and brief biographies of highly influential mathematicians, including: Euler, Lagrange, Navier, Thomas Young, Saint-Venant, Franz Neumann, Maxwell, Kelvin, Rayleigh, Klein, Prandtl, and many others. These theories, equations, and biographies are further enhanced by clear discussions of the development of engineering and engineering education in Italy, France, Germany, England, and elsewhere. 245 figures.

This volume contains 16 classic essays from the 17th to the 21st centuries on aspects of elastic wave theory.