The Resume

(June 26, 1824-December 17, 1907)
Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Birth name was William Thomson
First Baron Kelvin
Physicist/engineer
Namesake for the Kelvin temperature scale, the Joule-Thomson effect, the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability and the Kelvin transform
Invented the Kelvin bridge and Kelvin water dropper

Why he might be annoying:

His first wife was his second cousin, while his second wife was 14 years his junior.
As a professor at the University of Glasgow, he took over vacant rooms without permission, asking the faculty to approve his actions after the event.
Charles Darwin called him 'an odious spectre.'
He initially dismissed x-rays as a hoax and airplanes as impossible.

Why he might not be annoying:

He published his first scientific paper at age 16.
He was an excellent rower in college and was part of the winning team in the Oxford-Cambridge race.
He was appointed chair of the natural philosophy department at the University of Glasgow at age 22.
He was knighted for his work on the first successful trans-Atlantic cable.
He was one of the first group of members of the Order of Merit (1902).
He was pictured on the 20 pound notes issued by Scotland's Clydesdale Bank (1971).

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• 19th Century Scientists
• 20th Century Scientists
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 20]
• Eminent Victorians
• I Attended Cambridge
• I Attended University of Glasgow
• I Died in 1907 (Ranked: 83)
• I'm Buried at Westminster Abbey
• Inventors
• Knights
• My Name Became a Unit of Measurement
• My Spouse is at Least Ten Years Younger than Me
• Oops, I Married My Relative
• Profiles 25751-26000 (Ranked: 25818)
• Scientists

Year In Review:

For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 13 Votes: 46.15% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 24 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 12 Votes: 41.67% Annoying
In 2010, Out of 92 Votes: 56.52% Annoying
In 2009, Out of 36 Votes: 38.89% Annoying