Ten fun facts about James Prescott Joule

Fact 1
He collaborated with Lord Kelvin during his discovery of the absolute zero.

Fact 2
Although he initially only considered science a hobby, in 1841 he discovered Joule's first law.

Fact 3
He was a member of the Royal Society and also received the Royal Medal and the Copley Medal.

Fact 4
His gravestone is engraved with the his measurement of the mechanical equivalent of heat. The number 772.55.

Fact 5
Since his father was a brewer, when he became an adult he managed the brewery.

Fact 6
When he was a boy, he and his brother experimented with electric shocks. They shocked each other as well as the servants in the house.

Fact 7
Following his reading of one of his papers, he worked with William Thomson and developed the Joule-Thomson effect.

Fact 8
In the Manchester Town Hall, there is a statue of Joule.

Fact 9
One paper he had published in the "Philosophical Magazine" was read to the Royal Society, but they rejected it.

Fact 10
Joule was the President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

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