William Thomson was born on May 26th, 824 in Belfast, England.
Laying Atlantic submarine cable is a world-famous and costly project. Unexpectedly, something went wrong in the first step of building the cable. The person in charge of this project is Walter Horses. He has a good relationship with people in the company and his qualifications are old. At that time, Tang Musun was only the youngest director, with no post and no right. 1857, at the beginning of the project, pometia Sun and the chief engineer found the problem. Originally, according to the design requirements, the Atlantic submarine cable should be welded by 1200 cables, each of which is 3.22km long. The cable diameter in the cable specification formulated by Walter Hoss is far less than the theoretical requirement. To make matters worse, the company's preparatory Committee gave the instructions to the contractor before the official start of construction, and it was too late to cancel the contract. Tang Musun went back to his laboratory to mend the problem, and led the students to test all the copper wires at that time. It is found that the resistivity of various copper wires is very different, and welding copper wires with different resistivity will definitely make the parameters of the total cable deviate. Through experiments, Tang Musun solved the problem of uniform resistivity between several copper wires, summed up a set of practical resistivity measurement methods, and put forward new requirements and standards for the specifications of copper wires for cables.
Tang Musun's research results were resisted by Walters and cable manufacturers. Tang Musun proved his theory with a lot of experimental facts at the board meeting, won the support of the board meeting, and forced the manufacturers to sign contracts according to the new technical standards.
1857, the finished cable was loaded on two huge ships allocated by the British and American governments and began to sink for the first time. Walter Hawes, an electrical engineer, could not go with the ship for some reason. Entrusted by the board of directors, Tang Musun served as his conductor. When the sunken ship traveled to 6 1 1. 16 km, the cable broke unexpectedly, and the transmitted weak signal was difficult to be received by ordinary telegraph, so the first sinking of the first cable failed.
After analysis, Tang Musun found that only by strengthening the mechanical strength of the outer layer of the cable can the cable be prevented from breaking. However, how to amplify the weak signal becomes a difficult problem.
1858 On a sunny day, Tom Musun and German physicist Helmholtz went to the bay to play together. At the thought of signal amplification, Tang Musun lost his mind, left his friends and hid under the cabin alone. Helmholtz played a little joke on him. Conveniently took out his glasses from his pocket and reflected the sunlight to Tang Musun's face. Tang Musun suddenly felt a dazzling bright spot shaking in front of his eyes. He looked up and saw the glasses in his friend's hand. He had a brainwave and shouted in ecstasy: "Yes! Yes! My Helmholtz. " He ran back to the lab screaming.
It turned out that the role of the lens inspired Tang Musun, and he finally found a way to amplify the signal. Through repeated experiments, he finally hung a small mirror carefully in the coil of the telegraph and inserted a small magnetic needle on the back of the mirror to amplify the weak signal. After careful design, he finally made a mirror galvanometer telegraph. The sensitivity of this kind of telegram is more than ten times higher than that of Walter Hawes, thus solving the key technical problems of submarine cable communication. This practical terminal equipment will be widely used in long-distance cable communication under the Atlantic Ocean in the future.
After the technical problems were solved, 1858 started the second sinking of the first cable. Because Walter Hoss, a senior, refused to go to sea, the young Tang Musun bravely assumed the responsibility of electrical engineer and went to sea with the ship again.
1858 at the turn of spring and summer, the sunken ship Agamemna set out from Newfoundland, North America and laid cables from west to east. Unexpectedly, there was a week-long storm at sea. The deck was drilled through by cables and the laboratory was flooded, which brought great difficulties to the sinking work. Pometia, Sun and everyone braved the waves regardless of the danger. After more than a month of fighting at sea, the Agamemna arrived in Ireland safely on August 3. At 3: 55 pm on August 5, the first overseas telegram sent by Tom Musun was received by North America five minutes later. For the first time, man conquered the barrier of the Atlantic Ocean and connected the two continents with cables. Tang Musun, who made great achievements, was beside himself with excitement. But a month later, something unexpected happened again. After the passage of the 723 telegram, the cable broke or even leaked due to seawater corrosion, and the telegraph communication between the two sides of the strait was forced to be interrupted.
The Atlantic submarine cable failed twice, costing hundreds of thousands of pounds without any benefits. Many people want to back down, but Tang Musun insists that although the life of the first optical cable is not long, it has been running for at least one month, which proves that long-distance submarine communication is completely possible. At the insistence of General Manager Sun He of pometia and with the strong support of the government, the second new cable was manufactured and laid at the beginning of 1865. At this time, Tang Musun broke his leg because of a roller skating. However, he overcame all the inconveniences and had to go out to sea personally to lead the sinking. A large ship "Dadong" with more than 22,000 tons set out with people's hopes. Tang Musun, who has suffered two blows, is hopeful of success this time. However, when the ship was less than half way, the cable broke unexpectedly and sank into the abyss. Tang Musun is very sad. When he came back, the engineer had tears on his face. Facing the unusually calm sea, he shouted in his heart: "I believe that the Atlantic Ocean can't stop human progress!" " "
Yes, the Atlantic Ocean can't stop human progress. 1866, the third cable is completed. In April of that year, the "Dadong" set out again. Tang Musun boarded the ship for the fourth time as an engineer and presided over the shipwreck. In June, the cable landed in Ireland, the sinking was very successful, and the telegraph communication was also very smooth. Encouraged by great success, a few months later, Tang Musun set sail again. After more than a month's search, he salvaged the broken cable that sank to the bottom of the sea and connected it with a new cable, all the way to Newfoundland. After 10 years of efforts, there are two cables under the Atlantic Ocean. This success ushered in a new era of human wired communication. It not only proves the feasibility of long-distance submarine cable communication, but also lays a theoretical foundation for the development of this cause and provides rich practical experience. Today, more than 100 years later, submarine cables have been laid between the continental plates of the earth and between the mainland and major islands.
The project of laying submarine cables in the Atlantic Ocean has made great contributions to human communication, and also had a great impact on Tang Musun's scientific activities. It guides Tang Musun from theoretical science to engineering science. People say that Tang Musun has been a professor for more than 50 years. In fact, he has been an engineer in the name of a professor for more than 50 years. In the field of applied engineering, his footprints are everywhere. Several sea voyages with sunken cables made him closely connected with the sea for the rest of his life. After the cable was laid successfully, he continued to study new devices for submarine communication, including automatic recorder of submarine telegraph and loop galvanometer.
Tang Musun obtained 70 kinds of invention patents in his life, which made him a rich man. He spent a lot of money on new research. 1870, his delicate wife died of illness after living with him for 18 years. Tang Musun, who endured grief, bought a yacht with a tonnage of 100 and devoted all his energy to the study of navigation. He regarded the yacht as a test ship, and after repeated research, he invented several portable improved compasses that were not disturbed by the iron hull. In addition, he also invented the seawater sounder and studied the tidal theory.
Tang Musun, one of the founders of modern physics and the founder of the first submarine cable in the Atlantic Ocean, published more than 600 papers in his life. 185 1 was elected as a member of the Royal Society and won the Royal Society Medal twice. From 1892, he served as the president of the Royal Society until his death. He established the first modern physics laboratory in England. So far, the University of Glasgow has also established the Kelvin Prize to reward students who have made outstanding achievements in mathematics, astronomy and physics all over the world.
From 65438 to 0896, scientists from all over the world gathered at Glasgow University to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Thomas Musun's appointment as a professor. Everyone unanimously praised his achievements in sincere language. Indeed, it is difficult to list Tang Musun's scientific achievements and social honors one by one. However, at the commemorative ceremony, the 72-year-old Lord replied: "There are two words that best represent my struggle for scientific progress in the past 50 years, and that is' failure'. 50 years ago; When I first started teaching, I didn't know much about the relationship between electricity and magnetism or the relationship between electricity, mass and chemical affinity. Failure will certainly cause anxiety, but for people engaged in science, natural talents often bring a special interest, so that he will not be disappointed, and perhaps make his daily life particularly happy. "
Three years later, Tang Musun resigned as a professor at Glasgow University. 1899 at the beginning of the new school year, a 76-year-old man walked into the registration room and solemnly filled out the registration form: "Lord Kelvin, graduate student." He no longer goes to the podium to give lectures. From now on, he just studies.
1907 10 17 In June, Tang Musun died at the age of 83. He was buried in Westminster Abbey and people always respected and commemorated him.