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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Referee's report by William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, on the Bakerian Lecture 'On the viscosity or internal friction of air and other gases' by James Clerk Maxwell

Reference number: RR/6/178

Date: 11 April 1866

Description

Recommended for publication in the 'Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'. Suggests the author should continue their investigations. Suggests work should also be undertaken by the government in this important area of investigation. Suggests the Royal Society should 'move the government in the establishment of laboratories for investigation, in which teaching would be thoroughly subordinate to the search for new knowledge of properties of matter'.

Subject: Physics and Chemistry

[Published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]

Reference number
RR/6/178
Earliest possible date
11 April 1866
Physical description
Letter on paper
Page extent
8 pages
Format
Manuscript

Creator name

William Thomson

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Citation

William Thomson, Referee's report by William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, on the Bakerian Lecture 'On the viscosity or internal friction of air and other gases' by James Clerk Maxwell, 11 April 1866, RR/6/178, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/rr_6_178/referees-report-by-william-thomson-1st-baron-kelvin-on-the-bakerian-lecture-on-the-viscosity-or-internal-friction-of-air-and-other-gases-by-james-clerk-maxwell, accessed on 23 April 2025

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  • Referee Reports

    This collection contains reports on scientific papers submitted for publication to the Royal Society. Started in 1832 when the system was formalised, it is a record of the origins of peer review publishing in practice.

    Dates: 1832 - 1954

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