“ THOMSON, JAMES (1822–1892) , British physicist and engineer, was born in Belfast on the 16th of February 1822, and, like his younger brother, Lord Kelvin, at an unusually early age began to attend the classes at Glasgow University, where his father had been appointed professor of mathematics in 1832. After his graduation he decided to study civil engineering, and for that purpose became a pupil in several engineering offices and works successively ”

“ To this period belong his well-known researches in thermodynamics, which enabled him to predict by the application of Carnot’s theorem that the temperature of the freezing point of substances which expand on solidifying must be lowered by the application of pressure, the reverse being the case with substances which contract on solidification ”

“ Settling in Belfast in 1851, he was selected to be the resident engineer to the Belfast Water Commissioners in 1853, and four years later became professor of civil engineering and surveying in Queen’s College, Belfast. ”