1.
William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin
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William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, OM, GCVO, PC, FRS, FRSE was a Scots-Irish mathematical physicist and engineer who was born in Belfast in 1824. He worked closely with mathematics professor Hugh Blackburn in his work and he also had a career as an electric telegraph engineer and inventor, which propelled him into the public eye and ensured his wealth, fame and honour. For his work on the telegraph project he was knighted in 1866 by Queen Victoria. He had extensive maritime interests and was most noted for his work on the mariners compass, absolute temperatures are stated in units of kelvin in his honour. He was ennobled in 1892 in recognition of his achievements in thermodynamics and he was the first British scientist to be elevated to the House of Lords. The title refers to the River Kelvin, which close by his laboratory at the University of Glasgow. His home was the red sandstone mansion Netherhall, in Largs. William Thomsons father, James Thomson, was a teacher of mathematics and engineering at Royal Belfast Academical Institution, James Thomson married Margaret Gardner in 1817 and, of their children, four boys and two girls survived infancy. Margaret Thomson died in 1830 when William was six years old, William and his elder brother James were tutored at home by their father while the younger boys were tutored by their elder sisters. James was intended to benefit from the share of his fathers encouragement, affection. In 1832, his father was appointed professor of mathematics at Glasgow, the Thomson children were introduced to a broader cosmopolitan experience than their fathers rural upbringing, spending mid-1839 in London and the boys were tutored in French in Paris. Mid-1840 was spent in Germany and the Netherlands, language study was given a high priority. His sister, Anna Thomson, was the mother of James Thomson Bottomley FRSE, Thomson had heart problems and nearly died when he was 9 years old. In school, Thomson showed a keen interest in the classics along with his natural interest in the sciences, at the age of 12 he won a prize for translating Lucian of Samosatas Dialogues of the Gods from Latin to English. In the academic year 1839/1840, Thomson won the prize in astronomy for his Essay on the figure of the Earth which showed an early facility for mathematical analysis. Throughout his life, he would work on the problems raised in the essay as a strategy during times of personal stress. On the title page of this essay Thomson wrote the lines from Alexander Popes Essay on Man. These lines inspired Thomson to understand the world using the power and method of science, Go
2.
Thermodynamic temperature
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Thermodynamic temperature is the absolute measure of temperature and is one of the principal parameters of thermodynamics. Thermodynamic temperature is defined by the law of thermodynamics in which the theoretically lowest temperature is the null or zero point. At this point, absolute zero, the constituents of matter have minimal motion. In the quantum-mechanical description, matter at absolute zero is in its ground state, the International System of Units specifies a particular scale for thermodynamic temperature. It uses the Kelvin scale for measurement and selects the point of water at 273.16 K as the fundamental fixing point. Other scales have been in use historically, the Rankine scale, using the degree Fahrenheit as its unit interval, is still in use as part of the English Engineering Units in the United States in some engineering fields. ITS-90 gives a means of estimating the thermodynamic temperature to a very high degree of accuracy. Internal energy is called the heat energy or thermal energy in conditions when no work is done upon the substance by its surroundings. Internal energy may be stored in a number of ways within a substance, each way constituting a degree of freedom. At equilibrium, each degree of freedom will have on average the energy, k B T /2 where k B is the Boltzmann constant. Temperature is a measure of the random submicroscopic motions and vibrations of the constituents of matter. These motions comprise the internal energy of a substance, more specifically, the thermodynamic temperature of any bulk quantity of matter is the measure of the average kinetic energy per classical degree of freedom of its constituent particles. Translational motions are almost always in the classical regime, translational motions are ordinary, whole-body movements in three-dimensional space in which particles move about and exchange energy in collisions. Figure 1 below shows translational motion in gases, Figure 4 below shows translational motion in solids, Zero kinetic energy remains in a substance at absolute zero. Throughout the scientific world where measurements are made in SI units, many engineering fields in the U. S. however, measure thermodynamic temperature using the Rankine scale. By international agreement, the kelvin and its scale are defined by two points, absolute zero, and the triple point of Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water. Absolute zero, the lowest possible temperature, is defined as being precisely 0 K, the triple point of water is defined as being precisely 273.16 K and 0.01 °C. This definition does three things, It fixes the magnitude of the unit as being precisely 1 part in 273.15 kelvins
3.
Water
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Water is a transparent and nearly colorless chemical substance that is the main constituent of Earths streams, lakes, and oceans, and the fluids of most living organisms. Its chemical formula is H2O, meaning that its molecule contains one oxygen, Water strictly refers to the liquid state of that substance, that prevails at standard ambient temperature and pressure, but it often refers also to its solid state or its gaseous state. It also occurs in nature as snow, glaciers, ice packs and icebergs, clouds, fog, dew, aquifers, Water covers 71% of the Earths surface. It is vital for all forms of life. Only 2. 5% of this water is freshwater, and 98. 8% of that water is in ice and groundwater. Less than 0. 3% of all freshwater is in rivers, lakes, and the atmosphere, a greater quantity of water is found in the earths interior. Water on Earth moves continually through the cycle of evaporation and transpiration, condensation, precipitation. Evaporation and transpiration contribute to the precipitation over land, large amounts of water are also chemically combined or adsorbed in hydrated minerals. Safe drinking water is essential to humans and other even though it provides no calories or organic nutrients. There is a correlation between access to safe water and gross domestic product per capita. However, some observers have estimated that by 2025 more than half of the population will be facing water-based vulnerability. A report, issued in November 2009, suggests that by 2030, in developing regions of the world. Water plays an important role in the world economy, approximately 70% of the freshwater used by humans goes to agriculture. Fishing in salt and fresh water bodies is a source of food for many parts of the world. Much of long-distance trade of commodities and manufactured products is transported by boats through seas, rivers, lakes, large quantities of water, ice, and steam are used for cooling and heating, in industry and homes. Water is an excellent solvent for a variety of chemical substances, as such it is widely used in industrial processes. Water is also central to many sports and other forms of entertainment, such as swimming, pleasure boating, boat racing, surfing, sport fishing, Water is a liquid at the temperatures and pressures that are most adequate for life. Specifically, at atmospheric pressure of 1 bar, water is a liquid between the temperatures of 273.15 K and 373.15 K
4.
International System of Units
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The International System of Units is the modern form of the metric system, and is the most widely used system of measurement. It comprises a coherent system of units of measurement built on seven base units, the system also establishes a set of twenty prefixes to the unit names and unit symbols that may be used when specifying multiples and fractions of the units. The system was published in 1960 as the result of an initiative began in 1948. It is based on the system of units rather than any variant of the centimetre-gram-second system. The motivation for the development of the SI was the diversity of units that had sprung up within the CGS systems, the International System of Units has been adopted by most developed countries, however, the adoption has not been universal in all English-speaking countries. The metric system was first implemented during the French Revolution with just the metre and kilogram as standards of length, in the 1830s Carl Friedrich Gauss laid the foundations for a coherent system based on length, mass, and time. In the 1860s a group working under the auspices of the British Association for the Advancement of Science formulated the requirement for a coherent system of units with base units and derived units. Meanwhile, in 1875, the Treaty of the Metre passed responsibility for verification of the kilogram, in 1921, the Treaty was extended to include all physical quantities including electrical units originally defined in 1893. The units associated with these quantities were the metre, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, in 1971, a seventh base quantity, amount of substance represented by the mole, was added to the definition of SI. On 11 July 1792, the proposed the names metre, are, litre and grave for the units of length, area, capacity. The committee also proposed that multiples and submultiples of these units were to be denoted by decimal-based prefixes such as centi for a hundredth, on 10 December 1799, the law by which the metric system was to be definitively adopted in France was passed. Prior to this, the strength of the magnetic field had only been described in relative terms. The technique used by Gauss was to equate the torque induced on a magnet of known mass by the earth’s magnetic field with the torque induced on an equivalent system under gravity. The resultant calculations enabled him to assign dimensions based on mass, length, a French-inspired initiative for international cooperation in metrology led to the signing in 1875 of the Metre Convention. Initially the convention only covered standards for the metre and the kilogram, one of each was selected at random to become the International prototype metre and International prototype kilogram that replaced the mètre des Archives and kilogramme des Archives respectively. Each member state was entitled to one of each of the prototypes to serve as the national prototype for that country. Initially its prime purpose was a periodic recalibration of national prototype metres. The official language of the Metre Convention is French and the version of all official documents published by or on behalf of the CGPM is the French-language version
5.
Metre Convention
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Metre Convention, also known as the Treaty of the Metre, is an international treaty that was signed in Paris on 20 May 1875 by representatives of 17 nations. The treaty set up an institute for the purpose of coordinating international metrology, the treaty also set up associated organizations to oversee the running of the institute. In 1960, at the 11th meetings of the CGPM, the system of units it had established was overhauled and relaunched as the International System of Units. The Convention created three main organizations, The CGPM – a meeting every four to six years of delegates from all member states. The International Committee for Weights and Measures – an advisory body to the CGPM consisting of 18 prominent metrologists from 18 different countries, in England in 1215, clause 25 of the Magna Carta set out the standards of measure that were to be applied throughout the realm prefixed. The wording of the clause emphasised that There is to be a single measure, five centuries later, when in 1707 England and Scotland were united into a single kingdom, the Scots agreed to use the same units of measure that were already established in England. During the eighteenth century, in order to trade, Peter the Great. Abuse of units of measures were one of the causes of the French Revolution, between 1850 and 1870, a number of countries adopted the metric system as their system of measure including Spain, many South American republics and many of the Italian and German states. In 1863, the International Postal Union used grams to express permitted weights of letters, in the 1860s, inspections of the prototype metre revealed wear and tear at the measuring faces of the bar and also that the bar was wont to flex slightly when in use. In July 1870, two weeks before the conference was due to start, the Franco-Prussian War broke out, although the delegates did meet, it was agreed that the conference should be recalled once all the delegates were present. In 1872 the new republican government reissued the invitations and in 1875 scientists from thirty European and American countries met in Paris, the conference did not concern itself with other units of measure. The conference had undertones of Franco-German political manoeuvring, particularly since the French had been humiliated by the Prussians during the war a few years previously. Although France lost control of the system, they ensured that it passed to international rather than German control. They were eventually reassured when the German-born Swiss delegate Adolphe Hirsch said no serious scientist would in our day and age contemplate a metre deduced from the size of the earth. When the conference was reconvened in 1875, it was proposed that new prototype metre, although the new standard metre had the same value as the old metre, it had an X cross-section rather than a rectangular cross-section as this reduced the flexing when taking measurements. Moreover, the new bar, rather than being exactly one metre in length was a longer than one metre and had lines engraved on them that were exactly one metre apart. The London firm Johnson Matthey delivered 30 prototype metres and 40 prototype kilograms, at the first meeting of the CGPM in 1889 bar No.6 and cylinder No. X were chosen by lot as the international prototypes, the remainder were either kept as BIPM working copies or distributed by lot to member states as national prototypes
6.
Volt
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The volt is the derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. One volt is defined as the difference in potential between two points of a conducting wire when an electric current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power between those points. It is also equal to the difference between two parallel, infinite planes spaced 1 meter apart that create an electric field of 1 newton per coulomb. Additionally, it is the difference between two points that will impart one joule of energy per coulomb of charge that passes through it. It can also be expressed as amperes times ohms, watts per ampere, or joules per coulomb, for the Josephson constant, KJ = 2e/h, the conventional value KJ-90 is used, K J-90 =0.4835979 GHz μ V. This standard is typically realized using an array of several thousand or tens of thousands of junctions. Empirically, several experiments have shown that the method is independent of device design, material, measurement setup, etc. in the water-flow analogy sometimes used to explain electric circuits by comparing them with water-filled pipes, voltage is likened to difference in water pressure. Current is proportional to the diameter of the pipe or the amount of water flowing at that pressure. A resistor would be a reduced diameter somewhere in the piping, the relationship between voltage and current is defined by Ohms Law. Ohms Law is analogous to the Hagen–Poiseuille equation, as both are linear models relating flux and potential in their respective systems, the voltage produced by each electrochemical cell in a battery is determined by the chemistry of that cell. Cells can be combined in series for multiples of that voltage, mechanical generators can usually be constructed to any voltage in a range of feasibility. High-voltage electric power lines,110 kV and up Lightning, Varies greatly. Volta had determined that the most effective pair of metals to produce electricity was zinc. In 1861, Latimer Clark and Sir Charles Bright coined the name volt for the unit of resistance, by 1873, the British Association for the Advancement of Science had defined the volt, ohm, and farad. In 1881, the International Electrical Congress, now the International Electrotechnical Commission and they made the volt equal to 108 cgs units of voltage, the cgs system at the time being the customary system of units in science. At that time, the volt was defined as the difference across a conductor when a current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power. The international volt was defined in 1893 as 1/1.434 of the emf of a Clark cell and this definition was abandoned in 1908 in favor of a definition based on the international ohm and international ampere until the entire set of reproducible units was abandoned in 1948. Prior to the development of the Josephson junction voltage standard, the volt was maintained in laboratories using specially constructed batteries called standard cells
7.
Photography
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Typically, a lens is used to focus the light reflected or emitted from objects into a real image on the light-sensitive surface inside a camera during a timed exposure. With an electronic sensor, this produces an electrical charge at each pixel. A negative image on film is used to photographically create a positive image on a paper base, known as a print. The word photography was created from the Greek roots φωτός, genitive of φῶς, light and γραφή representation by means of lines or drawing, several people may have coined the same new term from these roots independently. Johann von Maedler, a Berlin astronomer, is credited in a 1932 German history of photography as having used it in an article published on 25 February 1839 in the German newspaper Vossische Zeitung. Both of these claims are now widely reported but apparently neither has ever been confirmed as beyond reasonable doubt. Credit has traditionally given to Sir John Herschel both for coining the word and for introducing it to the public. Photography is the result of combining several technical discoveries, later Greek mathematicians Aristotle and Euclid also independently described a pinhole camera in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. Daniele Barbaro described a diaphragm in 1566, wilhelm Homberg described how light darkened some chemicals in 1694. The fiction book Giphantie, published in 1760, by French author Tiphaigne de la Roche, the discovery of the camera obscura that provides an image of a scene dates back to ancient China. Leonardo da Vinci mentions natural camera obscura that are formed by dark caves on the edge of a sunlit valley, a hole in the cave wall will act as a pinhole camera and project a laterally reversed, upside down image on a piece of paper. So the birth of photography was primarily concerned with inventing means to capture, renaissance painters used the camera obscura which, in fact, gives the optical rendering in color that dominates Western Art. The camera obscura literally means dark chamber in Latin and it is a box with a hole in it which allows light to go through and create an image onto the piece of paper. Around the year 1800, British inventor Thomas Wedgwood made the first known attempt to capture the image in a camera obscura by means of a light-sensitive substance and he used paper or white leather treated with silver nitrate. The shadow images eventually darkened all over, the first permanent photoetching was an image produced in 1822 by the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce, but it was destroyed in a later attempt to make prints from it. Niépce was successful again in 1825, in 1826 or 1827, he made the View from the Window at Le Gras, the earliest surviving photograph from nature. Because Niépces camera photographs required a long exposure, he sought to greatly improve his bitumen process or replace it with one that was more practical. With an eye to eventual commercial exploitation, the partners opted for total secrecy, Daguerres efforts culminated in what would later be named the daguerreotype process
8.
Astronomy
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Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It applies mathematics, physics, and chemistry, in an effort to explain the origin of those objects and phenomena and their evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, galaxies, and comets, while the phenomena include supernovae explosions, gamma ray bursts, more generally, all astronomical phenomena that originate outside Earths atmosphere are within the purview of astronomy. A related but distinct subject, physical cosmology, is concerned with the study of the Universe as a whole, Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history, such as the Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Egyptians, Nubians, Iranians, Chinese, during the 20th century, the field of professional astronomy split into observational and theoretical branches. Observational astronomy is focused on acquiring data from observations of astronomical objects, theoretical astronomy is oriented toward the development of computer or analytical models to describe astronomical objects and phenomena. The two fields complement each other, with theoretical astronomy seeking to explain the results and observations being used to confirm theoretical results. Astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs can play an active role, especially in the discovery. Amateur astronomers have made and contributed to many important astronomical discoveries, Astronomy means law of the stars. Astronomy should not be confused with astrology, the system which claims that human affairs are correlated with the positions of celestial objects. Although the two share a common origin, they are now entirely distinct. Generally, either the term astronomy or astrophysics may be used to refer to this subject, however, since most modern astronomical research deals with subjects related to physics, modern astronomy could actually be called astrophysics. Few fields, such as astrometry, are purely astronomy rather than also astrophysics, some titles of the leading scientific journals in this field includeThe Astronomical Journal, The Astrophysical Journal and Astronomy and Astrophysics. In early times, astronomy only comprised the observation and predictions of the motions of objects visible to the naked eye, in some locations, early cultures assembled massive artifacts that possibly had some astronomical purpose. Before tools such as the telescope were invented, early study of the stars was conducted using the naked eye, most of early astronomy actually consisted of mapping the positions of the stars and planets, a science now referred to as astrometry. From these observations, early ideas about the motions of the planets were formed, and the nature of the Sun, Moon, the Earth was believed to be the center of the Universe with the Sun, the Moon and the stars rotating around it. This is known as the model of the Universe, or the Ptolemaic system. The Babylonians discovered that lunar eclipses recurred in a cycle known as a saros
9.
Temperature
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A temperature is an objective comparative measurement of hot or cold. It is measured by a thermometer, several scales and units exist for measuring temperature, the most common being Celsius, Fahrenheit, and, especially in science, Kelvin. Absolute zero is denoted as 0 K on the Kelvin scale, −273.15 °C on the Celsius scale, the kinetic theory offers a valuable but limited account of the behavior of the materials of macroscopic bodies, especially of fluids. Temperature is important in all fields of science including physics, geology, chemistry, atmospheric sciences, medicine. The Celsius scale is used for temperature measurements in most of the world. Because of the 100 degree interval, it is called a centigrade scale.15, the United States commonly uses the Fahrenheit scale, on which water freezes at 32°F and boils at 212°F at sea-level atmospheric pressure. Many scientific measurements use the Kelvin temperature scale, named in honor of the Scottish physicist who first defined it and it is a thermodynamic or absolute temperature scale. Its zero point, 0K, is defined to coincide with the coldest physically-possible temperature and its degrees are defined through thermodynamics. The temperature of zero occurs at 0K = −273. 15°C. For historical reasons, the triple point temperature of water is fixed at 273.16 units of the measurement increment, Temperature is one of the principal quantities in the study of thermodynamics. There is a variety of kinds of temperature scale and it may be convenient to classify them as empirically and theoretically based. Empirical temperature scales are historically older, while theoretically based scales arose in the middle of the nineteenth century, empirically based temperature scales rely directly on measurements of simple physical properties of materials. For example, the length of a column of mercury, confined in a capillary tube, is dependent largely on temperature. Such scales are only within convenient ranges of temperature. For example, above the point of mercury, a mercury-in-glass thermometer is impracticable. A material is of no use as a thermometer near one of its phase-change temperatures, in spite of these restrictions, most generally used practical thermometers are of the empirically based kind. Especially, it was used for calorimetry, which contributed greatly to the discovery of thermodynamics, nevertheless, empirical thermometry has serious drawbacks when judged as a basis for theoretical physics. Theoretically based temperature scales are based directly on theoretical arguments, especially those of thermodynamics, kinetic theory and they rely on theoretical properties of idealized devices and materials
10.
Absolute zero
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Absolute zero is the lower limit of the thermodynamic temperature scale, a state at which the enthalpy and entropy of a cooled ideal gas reaches its minimum value, taken as 0. The corresponding Kelvin and Rankine temperature scales set their zero points at absolute zero by definition, in the quantum-mechanical description, matter at absolute zero is in its ground state, the point of lowest internal energy. And a system at absolute zero still possesses quantum mechanical zero-point energy, the kinetic energy of the ground state cannot be removed. Scientists and technologists routinely achieve temperatures close to zero, where matter exhibits quantum effects such as superconductivity and superfluidity. At temperatures near 0 K, nearly all molecular motion ceases and ΔS =0 for any adiabatic process, in such a circumstance, pure substances can form perfect crystals as T →0. Max Plancks strong form of the law of thermodynamics states the entropy of a perfect crystal vanishes at absolute zero. The Nernst postulate identifies the isotherm T =0 as coincident with the adiabat S =0, although other isotherms, as no two adiabats intersect, no other adiabat can intersect the T =0 isotherm. Consequently no adiabatic process initiated at nonzero temperature can lead to zero temperature, a perfect crystal is one in which the internal lattice structure extends uninterrupted in all directions. The perfect order can be represented by translational symmetry along three axes, every lattice element of the structure is in its proper place, whether it is a single atom or a molecular grouping. For substances that exist in two crystalline forms, such as diamond and graphite for carbon, there is a kind of chemical degeneracy. The question remains whether both can have zero entropy at T =0 even though each is perfectly ordered, using the Debye model, the specific heat and entropy of a pure crystal are proportional to T3, while the enthalpy and chemical potential are proportional to T4. These quantities drop toward their T =0 limiting values and approach with zero slopes, for the specific heats at least, the limiting value itself is definitely zero, as borne out by experiments to below 10 K. Even the less detailed Einstein model shows this curious drop in specific heats, in fact, all specific heats vanish at absolute zero, not just those of crystals. Likewise for the coefficient of thermal expansion, maxwells relations show that various other quantities also vanish. Since the relation between changes in Gibbs free energy, the enthalpy and the entropy is Δ G = Δ H − T Δ S thus, as T decreases, ΔG and ΔH approach each other. Experimentally, it is found that all spontaneous processes result in a decrease in G as they proceed toward equilibrium, if ΔS and/or T are small, the condition ΔG <0 may imply that ΔH <0, which would indicate an exothermic reaction. However, this is not required, endothermic reactions can proceed spontaneously if the TΔS term is large enough, moreover, the slopes of the derivatives of ΔG and ΔH converge and are equal to zero at T =0. e. An actual process is the most exothermic one, one model that estimates the properties of an electron gas at absolute zero in metals is the Fermi gas
11.
University of Glasgow
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The University of Glasgow is the fourth oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotlands four ancient universities. Along with the University of Edinburgh, the University was part of the Scottish Enlightenment during the 18th century and it is currently a member of Universitas 21, the international network of research universities, and the Russell Group. Glasgow University served all of students by preparing them for professions, the law, medicine, civil service, teaching. It also trained smaller but growing numbers for careers in science, originally located in the citys High Street, since 1870 the main University campus has been located at Gilmorehill in the West End of the city. Additionally, a number of university buildings are located elsewhere, such as the Veterinary School in Bearsden, and it is the second-oldest university in Scotland after St Andrews and the fourth-oldest in the English-speaking world. The universities of St Andrews, Glasgow and Aberdeen were ecclesiastical foundations, as one of the Ancient Universities of the United Kingdom, Glasgow University is one of only eight institutions to award undergraduate masters degrees in certain disciplines. The University has been without its original Bull since the mid-sixteenth century, in 1560, during the political unrest accompanying the Scottish Reformation, the then chancellor, Archbishop James Beaton, a supporter of the Marian cause, fled to France. He took with him, for safe-keeping, many of the archives and valuables of the Cathedral and the University, including the Mace, although the Mace was sent back in 1590, the archives were not. If they had not been lost by time, they certainly went astray during the French Revolution when the Scots College was under threat. Its records and valuables were moved for safe-keeping out of the city of Paris, the Bull remains the authority by which the University awards degrees. Teaching at the University began in the chapterhouse of Glasgow Cathedral, subsequently moving to nearby Rottenrow, the University was given 13 acres of land belonging to the Black Friars on High Street by Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1563. The Lion and Unicorn Staircase was also transferred from the old site and is now attached to the Main Building. To continue this work in his will he founded Andersons College, in 1973, Delphine Parrott became its first woman professor, as Gardiner Professor of Immunology. In October 2014, the university court voted for the University to become the first academic institution in Europe to divest from the fuel industry. The University is currently spread over a number of different campuses, the main one is the Gilmorehill campus, in Hillhead. The University has also established joint departments with the Glasgow School of Art, the Universitys initial accommodation including Glasgow University Library was part of the complex of religious buildings in the precincts of Glasgow Cathedral. In the mid-seventeenth century, the Hamilton Building was replaced with a very grand two-court building with a decorated west front facing the High Street, called the Nova Erectio, over the following centuries, the Universitys size and scope continued to expand. In 1757 it built the Macfarlane Observatory and later Scotlands first public museum and it was a centre of the Scottish Enlightenment and subsequently of the Industrial Revolution, and its expansion in the High Street was constrained
12.
Proposed redefinition of SI base units
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The metric system was originally conceived as a system of measurement that was derivable from nature. When the metric system was first introduced in France in 1799 technical limitations necessitated the use of such as the prototype metre. In 1960 the metre was redefined in terms of the wavelength of light from a source, making it derivable from nature. If the proposed redefinition is accepted, the system will, for the first time. The proposal can be summarised as follows, There will still be the seven base units. The second, metre and candela are already defined by physical constants, the new definitions will improve the SI without changing the size of any units, thus ensuring continuity with present measurements. Further details are found in the chapter of the Ninth SI Units Brochure. The last major overhaul of the system was in 1960 when the International System of Units was formally published as a coherent set of units of measure. SI is structured around seven base units that have apparently arbitrary definitions, although the set of units form a coherent system, the definitions do not. The proposal before the CIPM seeks to remedy this by using the quantities of nature as the basis for deriving the base units. This will mean, amongst other things, that the prototype kilogram will cease to be used as the replica of the kilogram. The second and the metre are already defined in such a manner, the basic structure of SI was developed over a period of about 170 years. Since 1960 technological advances have made it possible to address weaknesses in SI. Specifically, the metre was defined as one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator, although these definitions were chosen so that nobody would own the units, they could not be measured with sufficient convenience or precision for practical use. Instead copies were created in the form of the mètre des Archives, in 1875, by which time the use of the metric system had become widespread in Europe and in Latin America, twenty industrially developed nations met for the Convention of the Metre. They were, CGPM —The Conference meets every four to six years, CIPM —The Committee consists of eighteen eminent scientists, each from a different country, nominated by the CGPM. The CIPM meets annually and is tasked to advise the CGPM, the CIPM has set up a number of sub-committees, each charged with a particular area of interest. One of these, the Consultative Committee for Units, amongst other things, the first CGPM formally approved the use of 40 prototype metres and 40 prototype kilograms from the British firm Johnson Matthey as the standards mandated by the Convention of the Metre
