KELVIN, SIR WILLIAM THOMPSON, 1ST BARON

(June 26, 1824–December 17, 1907), was a British physicist. He developed degrees Kelvin to record temperatures on an absolute scale. He held the chair of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow for 54 years. He formulated the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics, introduced the Concept of Energy, and made enormous advancements in the areas of mathematics and physics. Among his great contributions were the invention of a ship’s compass which was largely freed from the magnetic influence of the iron in the ship, as well as helping to design and lay the first trans-atlantic telegraph cable.

In 1903, Lord Kelvin made the statement:

With regard to the origin of life, science … positively affirms creative power.2643

On May 23, 1889, in his address as the Chairman of the Christian Evidence Society in London, Lord Kelvin explained:

My primary reason for accepting the invitation to preside was that I wished to show sympathy with this great Society which has been established for the purpose of defending Christianity as a Divine Revelation.

I also thought something was due from Science. I have long felt that there was a general impression in the non-scientific world that the scientific world believes Science has discovered ways of explaining all the facts of nature without adopting any definite belief in a Creator. I have never doubted that impression was utterly groundless.

It seems to me that when a scientific man says—as it has been said from time to time—that there is no God, he does not express his own ideas clearly. He is, perhaps, struggling with difficulties; but when he says that he does not believe in a creative power I am convinced he does not faithfully express what is in his mind. He is out of his depth. …

I may refer to that old but never uninteresting subject of the miracles of geology. Physical Science does something for us here. Peter speaks of scoffers who said that “all things continue as they were from the beginning,” but the Apostle affirms himself that “all these things shall be dissolved.”

It seems to me that even physical science absolutely demonstrates the scientific truth of these words. We feel that there is no possibility of things going on forever as they have done for the last six thousand years. In science, as in morals and politics, there is absolutely no periodicity.2644