James Prescott Joule

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James Prescott Joule FRS FRSE
Born	(1818-12-24)24 December 1818 Salford, Lancashire, England
Died	11 October 1889(1889-10-11) (aged 70) Sale, Cheshire, England
Citizenship	British
Known for	Disproving caloric theory First law of thermodynamics Mechanical equivalent of heat Magnetostriction Joule cycle Joule effect Joule expansion Joule's first law Joule's second law Joule–Thomson effect
Spouse	Amelia Grimes ​ ​ (m. 1847; died 1854)​
Children	Benjamin Arthur Alice Amelia Henry
Awards	Royal Medal (1852) Copley Medal (1870) Albert Medal (1880)
Scientific career
Fields	Physics

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James Prescott Joule FRS FRSE (/dʒuːl/;^[1][2][a] 24 December 1818 – 11 October 1889) was an English physicist, mathematician and brewer, born in Salford, Lancashire. Joule studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical work. This led to the law of conservation of energy, which in turn led to the development of the first law of thermodynamics. The SI derived unit of energy, the joule, is named after him.

He worked with Lord Kelvin to develop an absolute thermodynamic temperature scale, which came to be called the Kelvin scale. Joule also made observations of magnetostriction, and he found the relationship between the current through a resistor and the heat dissipated, which is also called Joule's first law. His experiments about energy transformations were first published in 1843.

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