Nature: William John Macquorn Rankine
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William John Macquorn Rankine
William John Macquorn Rankine was a Scottish mathematician and physicist. He was a founding contributor, with Rudolf Clausius and William Thomson, to the science of thermodynamics, particularly focusing on its First Law. He developed the Rankine scale, a Fahrenheit-based equivalent to the Celsius-based Kelvin scale of temperature.
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science · Scottish mechanical engineer (1820–1872) · engineer · physicist · civil engineer · university teacher · inventor · also William John Macquorn Rankine, W. J. M. Rankine, W. J. Macquorn Rankine, Rankine
Born 5 July 1820 · Died 24 December 1872 · Q232149
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2026· 1 entry
2013· 1 entry
Was one of four inductees to the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame
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1872· 1 entry
Died 1872-12-24.
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1869· 2 entries
But his model was not adequate and he predicted that supercritical speeds could not be attained
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That Rankine admitted the success of these rival theories
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1864· 1 entry
Contended that the microscopic theories of heat proposed by Clausius and James Clerk Maxwell, based on linear atomic motion, were inadequate
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1862· 1 entry
Rankine expanded Lord Kelvin's theory of universal heat death and, along with Kelvin himself, formulated the heat death paradox, which disproves the possibility of an infinitely old universe
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1860· 1 entry
After it was formed into the first company of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteer Corps; he served until 1864, when he resigned due to pressure of work – much of it associated with Naval Architecture
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1859· 1 entry
Proposed the Rankine scale of temperature, an absolute or thermodynamic scale whose degree is equal to a Fahrenheit degree
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1857· 2 entries
Awarded honorary doctorate of Trinity College, Dublin (1857).
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Career landmark: chairperson (1857–1859).
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1855· 1 entry
Career landmark: Regius Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics (1855–1872).
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1853· 1 entry
Awarded Fellow of the Royal Society (1853).
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1851· 2 entries
Won Keith Medal (1851).
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Set out to calculate the efficiency of heat engines and used his theory as a basis to deduce the principle, that the maximum efficiency possible for any heat engine is a function only of the two temperatures between w
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1850· 2 entries
Awarded Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1850).
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Was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer being Prof James David Forbes
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1838· 2 entries
Without a degree (which was not then unusual) and, perhaps because of straitened family finances, became an apprentice to Sir John Benjamin Macneill, who was at the time surveyor to the Irish Railway Commission
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Studied at University of Edinburgh (1836–1838).
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1836· 1 entry
Rankine began to study a spectrum of scientific topics at the University of Edinburgh, including natural history under Robert Jameson and natural philosophy under James David Forbes
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1834· 2 entries
Was sent to the Scottish Naval and Military Academy on Lothian Road in Edinburgh with the mathematician George Lee
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Studied at Scottish Naval and Military Academy (1834).
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1830· 1 entry
Studied at Glasgow Academy (1830–1830).
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1829· 1 entry
Studied at Ayr Academy (1828–1829).
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1820· 1 entry
Born 1820-07-05.
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