Rankine, William John Macquorn, 1820-1872

Civil engineer and physicist. Born in Edinburgh and studied at the university there. He then worked as an engineer on various railway projects in Scotland and Ireland, and from 1844 to 1848 was employed by the Caledonian Railway Co. About 1848 he commenced the researches on molecular physics which constitute his claim to fame in the scientific domain. His work on thermodynamics mirrored similar ideas being put forward by his contemporaries, William Thompson (Lord Kelvin) and Clausius. He was appointed to the chair of Civil Engineering and Mechanics at Glasgow University in 1855 where he taught until his death.

From the description of On the causes of the accidental breaking of the journals of originally sound railway axles and on the means of preventing it by observing the law of continuity in their construction, 1843. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 86132317

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