This is a beautiful little building with an unexpected historical connection. It's 20 Cambridge Street in Glasgow and it was desiged in a Venetian style by Duncan McNaughtan. Built in 1884, at one time it was a warehouse for a certain William Thomson, better known as Lord Kelvin, one of great 19th Century scientists and discoverer of absolute zero, the lowest possible temperature in the universe. How cool is that!

#glasgow #architecture #glasgowarchitecture #glasgowbuildings #lordkelvin

Lord Kelvin's wearing a bit of a fancy bunnet today. I guess It makes a change from the usual road cone!

#glasgow #kelvingrovepark #lordkelvin #statues

Lord Kelvin started this experiment in 1887 by placing a block of Cobbler's Wax was places at the top. Cobbler's Wax is a non-Newtonian Fluid. This means that if it is hit hard, it acts like a brittle solid and shatters, but, as this experiment demonstrates, if left alone, it acts like a fluid and flows very, very slowly down hill.

#glasgow #lordkelvin #huntarianmuseum #glasgowuniversity #longestrunningexperiment #science #historyofscience #nonnewtonianfluid

This is Lord Kelvin's Artifical Glacier in the Huntarian Museum in Glasgow. It has now been running for 140 years, and is potentially the longest running experiment in the world. Certainly, it had been running for 40 years when the currently recognised longest running experiment was initiated.

#glasgow #lordkelvin #huntarianmuseum #glasgowuniversity #longestrunningexperiment #science #historyofscience #nonnewtonianfluid

On the Kelvin Scale, 0 k represents absolute zero (the coldest possible temperature). In comparison, the point at which water freezes (zero degrees centigrade) is a balmy 273.2 k degees above Absolute Zero - something to bear in mind as you wake up to another frosty day here in William Thomson's adopted home town!

#glasgow #kelvingrovepark #lordkelvin #statues #glasgowstatues #glasgowuniversity #absolutezero #thekelvinscale #cold

William Thomson studied mathematics and engineering at Glasgow University, and eventually went on to become a professor there.

He is probably most famous for his work on defining Absolute Zero, the lowest possible temperature in the Universe, and for creating the Kelvin Temperature Scale which he used to meaaure it and which is still used to this day.

#glasgow #kelvingrovepark #lordkelvin #statues #glasgowstatues #glasgowuniversity #absolutezero #thekelvinscale #cold

If you live in the west end of Glasgow, you'll no doubt have passed this statue which sits in the section of Kelvingrove Park that is just below Glasgow University, but do you know who it is a statue of?

This is Sir William Thomson, also known as Lord Kelvin after the river which flows past his statue. Born in Belfast in 1824, he moved with his family to Glasgow in 1856.

#glasgow #kelvingrovepark #lordkelvin #statues #glasgowstatues #glasgowuniversity #absolutezero #thekelvinscale #cold