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William Thomson, first Baron Kelvin (1824-1907), is best known for devising the Kelvin scale of absolute temperature and for his work on the first and second laws of thermodynamics, though throughout his 53-year career as a mathematical physicist and engineer at the University of Glasgow he investigated a wide range of scientific questions in areas ranging from geology to transatlantic telegraph cables. The extent of his work is revealed in the six volumes of his Mathematical and Physical Papers, published from 1882 until 1911, consisting of articles that appeared in scientific periodicals from 1841 onwards. Volume 2, published in 1884, includes articles from the period 1853-1856, and puts a special emphasis on the issue of the development of electric telegraphy. Also included is Thomson's Bakerian Lecture on the electro-dynamic qualities of metals.