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Full Description
One of the preeminent natural philosophers of the Enlightenment, Benjamin Thompson started out as a farm boy with a practical turn of mind. His inventions include the Rumford fireplace, insulated clothing, the thermos, convection ovens, double boilers, double-paned glass and an improved sloop. He was knighted by King George III and became a Count of the Holy Roman Emperor.
Thompson's popularity with women eclipsed his achievements, though. He was married twice and had affairs with many other prominent women, including the wife of Boston printer Isaiah Thomas and that of a doctor who would crew the first balloon to cross the English Channel. He even fathered a child by the court mistress of the Prince Elector and had affairs with several other German noblewomen. Drawing on Thompson's correspondence and diaries, this book examines his friendships and romantic relationships.
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Dates in the Life of Benjamin Thompson
Author's Note
Preface
1. The Apprentice (1753-1770)
2. The Young Schoolmaster (1770-1776)
3. Thompson and the Wentworths (1772-1775)
4. The Royalist and the Printer's Wife (1776-1779)
5. The Affair of the Letters and Dr. Jeffries' Wife (1776-1779)
6. Advice from General Burghausen's Wife (1784)
7. Honors and Enterprises (1784-1790s)
8. The Highborn Sisters (Mid-1780s)
9. An Italian Idyll on Which He Met Lady Palmerston (1793-1794)
10. Educating Sally (1794-1796)
11. With Sally in Munich (1796-1798)
12. The Stories Portraiture Tells (1800s)
13. Leaving London and Paris Opens Its Arms (1801-1802)
14. Pursuing Madame Lavoisier (November 1801)
15. Engaged (circa February 1804)
16. A New Method of Spending Time (October 1805)
17. Boiling Over (1806-1809)
18. Single Again (1809)
19. Victoire (Circa 1809)
20. Children on Both Sides of the Atlantic (Mid-19th Century)
Epilogue: "The Most Sublime of All Affections"
Afterword: Experiments and Inventions
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
