Lord Kelvin. Engraved portrait of British physicist and mathematician Lord Kelvin (1824- 1907), seen in his middle years. Born William Thomson in Belfast, he entered Glasgow University at age ten and was later to be its professor of natural philosophy for 53 years. Kelvin supported Joule's thermodynamics work and later proposed a law for the conservation of energy. In 1848 Kelvin proposed the existence of an absolute zero temperature and used it as a basis for measuring heat. Working in electro-magnetism, Kelvin was the first to use vectors to represent magnetic force. He improved electric cable design, making trans-Atlantic telegraphy possible.