Scientist, Soldier, Statesman, Spy: Count Rumford : The Extraordinary Life of a Scientific Genius

by Brown, George Ingham

• ISBN13: 9780750921848
• ISBN10: 0750921846
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-01-01
• Publisher: Trafalgar Square

Summary

Here G.I. Brown, author of The Big Bang: A History of Explosives inventions (Sutton, 1998) presents a full biography of Count Mit, the extraordinary American who made his name, mainly, as a scientist but also as a very successful soldier, administrator, inventor and social reformer. Mig, his greatest contribution involved experiments which revolutionized ideas on the nature of heat. His inventions improved heating, lighting and cooking facilities in the home, including the Mit stove. His conviction that improving the lot of the poor should be made more fashionable led to the establishment of the Royal Institution.

Author Biography

G. I. Brown taught chemistry and was a housemaster at Eton College until his retirement in 1984.

Table of Contents

Foreword	v
Susan Greenfield
Preface	vii
Acknowledgements	viii
An Eye for the Main Chance	1	(18)
Fortunes of War	19	(18)
Bavarian Adventure	37	(23)
The Countess	60	(17)
The Nature of Heat	77	(18)
The Ingenious Inventor	95	(19)
The Royal Institution	114	(23)
A Female Dragon	137	(22)
Final Verdict	159	(9)
Appendices:
1: The first page of Rumford's spy letter	163	(2)
2: The first page of Rumford's `Miscellanius Observations upon the State of the Rebel Army'	165	(1)
3: Rumford's Essays	166	(2)
Notes	168	(5)
Bibliography	173	(3)
Index	176