Abstract
This article discusses the close relationship that developed during the 1850s and 1860s between Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–94), one of the leading German scientists during the second half of the nineteenth century, and the British scientific elite generally. It focuses especially on the importance of the law of conservation of energy to both sides of that relationship as the law emerged and became popularized. In presenting this Anglo-German relationship, the article relates Helmholtz's friendships or acquaintanceships with numerous members of the British elite, including William Thomson, John Tyndall, Henry Enfield Roscoe, Michael Faraday, Edward Sabine, Henry Bence Jones, George Gabriel Stokes, James Clerk Maxwell, Peter Guthrie Tait, George Biddell Airy and James Thomson. It suggests that the building of these social relationships helped create a sense of trust between Helmholtz and the British elite that, in turn, eased the revision of the understanding of the law of conservation of force into that of energy and consolidated its acceptance, and that laid the personal groundwork for Helmholtz's future promotion of Maxwell's electromagnetic theory in Germany and for Anglo-German agreements in electrical metrology.
Highlights
This article discusses the close relationship that developed during the 1850s and 1860s between Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–94), one of the leading German scientists during the second half of the nineteenth century, and the British scientific elite generally
No foreign man of science had a stronger reputation in Britain during the second half of the nineteenth century than Hermann von Helmholtz, not least because he reinforced it by professional visits to Britain and by building personal and professional friendships with leading British men of science
Helmholtz, who was ennobled in January 1883 and so had the ‘von’ added to his name, was especially close with Thomson, John Tyndall and Henry Enfield Roscoe, but
Summary
No foreign man of science had a stronger reputation in Britain during the second half of the nineteenth century than Hermann von Helmholtz, not least because he reinforced it by professional visits to Britain and by building personal and professional friendships with leading British men of science.
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