My first Magazine SFI Little Book - April Re-print edits included | Page 13

15 1848
Belfast’s William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin
develops the Kelvin scale and postulates a
temperature for absolute zero of −273.15°C.
17 1891
George Johnstone Stoney of Birr, Co.Offaly,
coins the term ‘electron’ to describe the
“fundamental unit quantity of electricity”.
16 1861
County Carlow-born physicist John Tyndall
answers the age old question, “Why is the sky blue?”.
He also observed that moist air absorbs more heat
than dry air, contributing to the understanding of
the “greenhouse effect” phenomenon.
18 1932
The atom was “split”, thanks in
part to the work of Waterford
native and Nobel prize winner,
Ernest Walton.