James Prescott Joule died on 11 October 1889 in Sale, aged 70. An English physicist born in Salford, near Manchester, Joule worked in his family's brewery and carried out experiments in his spare time. Through careful measurements, including a famous experiment in which a paddle wheel stirred water, he demonstrated that mechanical work and heat are equivalent and measured their conversion rate. His work established the principle of conservation of energy, the first law of thermodynamics, and he also described the heating effect of an electric current. With William Thomson, later Lord Kelvin, he discovered the cooling of expanding gases known as the Joule-Thomson effect. The unit of energy, the joule, is named in his honour.
Before and after
- 8 July 1889Launch of The Wall Street Journal
- 21 September 1889Founding of General Conference on Weights and Measure
- 23 September 1889Founding of Nintendo
- 26 September 1889Birth of Martin Heidegger
- 11 October 1889Death of James Prescott Joule
- 14 November 1889Birth of Jawaharlal Nehru
- 20 November 1889Birth of Edwin Hubble
- 1890Founding of University of Chicago
- 1890Opening of New Scotland Yard
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The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.