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{{short description|British military officer, scientist and inventor}}
{{Other people|Benjamin Thompson}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Count Rumford
| honorific-suffix  = [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]]
| image             = Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count von Rumford by Moritz Kellerhoven.jpg
| caption           = Portrait by [[Moritz Kellerhoven]], 1792
| image_size        = 220
| honorific-prefix  = [[List of barons of Austria-Hungary|Gracious Lord]]
| birth_name        = Benjamin Thompson
| birth_date        = {{birth date|df=yes|1753|3|26}}
| birth_place       = [[Woburn, Massachusetts|Woburn, Province of Massachusetts Bay]], British America
| death_date        = {{death date and age|df=yes|1814|8|21|1753|3|26}}
| death_place       = Paris, France
| field             = [[Physics]]
| alma_mater        = 
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for         = [[Thermodynamics]]
| prizes            = {{ubl|[[Copley Medal]] (1792)|[[Rumford Medal]] (1800)}}
| footnotes         = 
| signature         = Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford signature.svg 
}}

[[Colonel (United Kingdom)|Colonel]] '''Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford''', [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (26 March 1753{{snd}}21 August 1814), was an American-born British military officer, scientist and inventor. Born in [[Woburn, Massachusetts]], he supported the [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist cause]] during the [[American Revolutionary War|American War of Independence]], commanding the [[King's American Dragoons]] during the conflict. After the war ended in 1783, Thompson moved to London, where he was recognised for his administrative talents and received a knighthood from [[George III]] in 1784.

A prolific scientist and inventor, Thompson also created several new warship designs. He subsequently moved to the [[Electorate of Bavaria]] and entered into the employ of the Bavarian government, heavily reorganising the [[Bavarian Army]]. Thompson was rewarded for his efforts by being made an [[Imperial Count]] in 1792 before dying in Paris in 1814.<ref>"Sir Benjamin Thompson, count von Rumford". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 1 July 2014 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/592945/Sir-Benjamin-Thompson-count-von-Rumford>.</ref>

==Early years==
[[File:Coat of Arms of Benjamin Thompson.svg|175px|thumb|left|Coat of Arms of Benjamin Thompson]]
Thompson was born in rural [[Woburn, Massachusetts|Woburn]], in the [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]], on 26 March 1753; his [[Benjamin Thompson House|birthplace]] is preserved as a museum. He was educated mainly at the village school, although he sometimes walked almost ten miles to [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]] with the older [[Loammi Baldwin]] to attend lectures by Professor [[John Winthrop (1714-1779)|John Winthrop]] of [[Harvard College]]. At the age of 13 he was apprenticed to John Appleton, a [[merchant]] of nearby [[Salem, Massachusetts|Salem]]. Thompson excelled at his trade, and coming in contact with refined and well educated people for the first time, adopted many of their characteristics including an interest in [[science]]. While recuperating in Woburn in 1769 from an injury, Thompson conducted his first experiments studying the nature of [[heat]] and began to correspond with Baldwin and others about them. Later that year he worked several months for a Boston shopkeeper and then apprenticed himself briefly, and unsuccessfully, to a doctor in Woburn.
[[File:Benjamin Thompson Statue in Woburn Massachusetts.jpg|thumb|Statue of Benjamin Thompson in Woburn Massachusetts]]
Thompson's prospects were dim in 1772 but in that year they changed abruptly. He met, charmed and married a rich and well-connected widow, an heiress named Sarah Rolfe ([[née]] Walker). Her father was a minister, and her late husband left her property at Rumford, [[Province of New Hampshire]], which is today in the modern city of [[Concord, New Hampshire|Concord]]. They moved to [[Portsmouth, New Hampshire|Portsmouth]], and through his wife's influence with the governor, he was appointed a major in the [[New Hampshire Militia]]. Their child (also named [[Sarah Thompson, Countess Rumford|Sarah]]) was born in 1774.<ref>Gribbin, John.  ''The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors''.  New York, Random House, 2002. p. 301.</ref>

[[Image:Count Rumford.jpg|right|thumb|Painting by [[Thomas Gainsborough]] 1783]]

==American Revolutionary War==

Following the outbreak of the [[American Revolutionary War]] in 1775, Thompson, by now a wealthy and influential landowner, came out as a [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]]. He was soon using his connections in the colonial militia to recruit and arm Loyalists seeking to fight alongside the British against rebel forces, which earned him the enmity of [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriots]] in New Hampshire. Thompson was stripped of his militia commission and a Patriot mob attacked and burned down his house, causing him to flee to British lines, abandoning his wife in the process. He became a political and military advisor to General [[Thomas Gage]] (to whom Thompson was already passing information on Patriots), and later assisted [[George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville|Lord George Germain]] in organizing and provisioning Loyalist military units.{{fact|date=November 2025}}

In 1781, Thompson raised his own military unit, the [[King's American Dragoons]], which was primarily stationed on [[Long Island]] in 1782 and early 1783, where they became notorious for demolishing a church and burial ground in order to erect [[Fort Golgotha and the Old Burial Hill Cemetery|Fort Golgotha]] in [[Huntington, New York]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://town.huntington.ny.us/permit_pics/215.pdf |title=Old Burying Ground (17th Century) & Fort Golgotha (1782) |access-date=16 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429024837/http://town.huntington.ny.us/permit_pics/215.pdf |archive-date=29 April 2011 }}</ref> During his military career, Thompson conducted experiments to measure the force of [[gunpowder]], the results of which were widely acclaimed when published in 1781 in the ''[[Philosophical Transactions]]'' of the [[Royal Society]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Thompson |first=Benjamin |year=1781 |title=New Experiments upon Gun-Powder, with Occasional Observations and Practical Inferences |journal=[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London]] |volume=71 |pages=229–328 |doi=10.1098/rstl.1781.0039 |jstor=106525 |doi-access=free}}</ref> On the strength of this, he arrived in [[London]] at the end of the war with a reputation as an accomplished scientist.

[[File:Benjamin Thompson English garden Munich.jpg|thumb|The English Garden of Thompson in Munich]]

== Bavarian maturity ==
[[File:Rumford Tyroff BY 2-05 (cropped 2).jpg|thumb|Thompson's arms as ''[[Imperial Count|Reichsgraf]] von Rumford'']]
[[Image:Englischer garten fg02.jpg|thumb|The beer garden "Am chinesischen Turm" in the [[Englischer Garten]] in [[Munich]]]]
[[File:Uniform-Bilder Königlich Bayerisches Infanterie-Regiment Großherzog Ernst Ludwig von Hessen 003 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Bavarian uniforms designed by Benjamin Thompson, also known in Bavaria as Reichsgraf von Rumford]]

In 1785, he moved to [[Electorate of Bavaria|Bavaria]] where he became an ''[[aide-de-camp]]'' to the [[Prince-elector]] [[Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria|Charles Theodore]]. He spent eleven years in Bavaria, reorganizing the army and establishing [[workhouse]]s for the poor. He also invented [[Rumford's Soup]], a soup for the poor,<ref>{{cite book | last1=Kellogg | first1=D.O. | last2=Baynes | first2=T.S. | last3=Smith | first3=W.R. | title=The Encyclopædia Britannica: New American supplement. A-ZUY | publisher=Werner | series=The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature. Original 9th Ed. in 25 Vols | year=1903 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Su8hAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA673 | access-date=24 January 2015 | page=673}}</ref> and established the cultivation of the [[potato]] in Bavaria.  He studied methods of cooking, heating, and lighting, including the relative costs and efficiencies of [[wax]] [[candles]], [[tallow]] [[candle]]s, and [[oil lamp]]s.<ref>
{{cite book
 | title = The Encyclopedia Americana
 | chapter = Lamp
 | publisher = Encyclopedia Americana Corp
 | year = 1919
 | volume = 16
 | page = 681
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=IbZPAAAAMAAJ&q=benjamin-thompson++wax+candle&pg=PA681
 }}</ref>
On Prince Charles' behalf he created the [[Englischer Garten]] in [[Munich]] in 1789; it remains today and is known as one of the largest urban public parks in the world. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1789.<ref name="AAAS">{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter T|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterT.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=7 April 2011}}</ref>

For his efforts, in 1791 Thompson was made an [[Imperial Count]], becoming ''Reichsgraf von Rumford''. He took the name "Rumford" after the town of Rumford, New Hampshire, which was an older name for [[Concord, New Hampshire|Concord]] where he had been married.<ref>{{cite book | author= Bouton, Nathaniel|author-link=Nathaniel Bouton| title=The History of Concord: From Its First Grant in 1725 to the Organization of the City Government in 1853| url= https://archive.org/details/historyconcordf01boutgoog| location=Concord | publisher=Benning W. Sanford | year=1857 }}</ref>

==Science and engineering==
{{Blockquote|text=Benjamin Thompson has many claims on the interest of the historian of science. He founded the Royal Institution. His methods of conservation of heat and economy of fuel, his designs of stoves, fireplaces and cooking utensils were widely used during his lifetime. He was consulted on the laying out of kitchens in hospitals and institutions. He taught his contemporaries to recognise the fire built on an open hearth, the only means of domestic heating and cooking with which they were acquainted, for the ineffective and wasteful contrivance it really was. He held the most enlightened views, far in advance of his time, on the waste of fuel and the evils of atmospheric pollution in cities.
Rumford's constant preoccupation was the application of scientific principles to the improvement of the lot of the poor and the working classes, and it was in the subject of heat and its utilization that he found the greatest outlet for his endeavours.{{Sfn|Martin|1951|p=144}}|author=Thomas Martin|title=The Experimental Researches of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford}}

===Experiments on heat===
{{See also|Heat transfer#History}}
His experiments on gunnery and explosives led to an interest in heat. He devised a method for measuring the [[specific heat]] of a solid substance but was disappointed when [[Johan Wilcke]] published his parallel discovery first.

Thompson next investigated the [[Thermal insulation|insulating properties of various materials]], including [[fur]], [[wool]] and [[feather]]s. He correctly deduced that the insulating properties of these natural materials arise from the fact that they inhibit the [[convection]] of air. He then inferred — incorrectly — that air and, in fact, all gases, were perfect non-[[heat conduction|conductors]] of heat.<ref>Rumford (1786)   "New experiments upon heat"  ''[[Philosophical Transactions|Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]]'' ''p.''273</ref><ref>Rumford (1792) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/106776 "Experiments upon heat"] ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' ''p.''48-80</ref> He further saw this as evidence of the [[argument from design]], contending that [[divine providence]] had arranged for fur on animals in such a way as to guarantee their comfort. <!--This needs a reference, and should probably appear in trivia--> <!--Based on this work he created the [[Baked Alaska]] in 1804{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}.-->

In 1797, he extended his claim about non-conductivity to liquids.<ref>Rumford (1797) "On the propagation of heat in fluids" ''[[Nicholson's Journal]]'' '''1''' ''pp''298–341</ref> The idea raised considerable objections from the scientific establishment, [[John Dalton]]<ref>Cardwell (1971) ''p.''99</ref> and [[John Leslie (physicist)|John Leslie]]<ref>{{cite book | author=Leslie, J. | title=An Experimental Enquiry into the Nature and Propagation of Heat | publisher=London | year=1804 }}</ref> making particularly forthright attacks. Instrumentation far exceeding anything available in terms of accuracy and precision would have been needed to verify Thompson's claim. Again, he seems to have been influenced by his theological beliefs,<ref>Rumford (1804) "An enquiry concerning the nature of heat and the mode of its communication" ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' ''p.''77</ref> and historian of science [[D. S. L. Cardwell]] speculated that Thompson wished to grant water a privileged and providential status in the regulation of human life.<ref>Cardwell (1971) ''p.''102</ref>

He is considered the founder of the [[sous-vide]] food preparation method owing to his experiment with a mutton shoulder. He described this method in one of his essays.<ref>Benjamin Count of Rumford, "Essay X: On the construction of kitchen fire-places and kitchen utensils together with remarks and observations relating to the various processes of cookery; and proposals for improving that most useful art", ''Essays, Political, Economical, and Philosophical'', vol. 3 (London, England:  T. Cadell jun. and W. Davies, 1802), [https://books.google.com/books?id=gZg-AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA18 pp. 18–20.]</ref>

===Mechanical equivalent of heat===
{{Main|An Inquiry Concerning the Source of the Heat Which Is Excited by Friction}}
{{see also |Mechanical equivalent of heat}}
Rumford's most important scientific work took place in Munich, and centred on the nature of heat, which he contended in "[[An Inquiry Concerning the Source of the Heat Which Is Excited by Friction]]" (1798) was not the [[Caloric theory|caloric]] of then-current scientific thinking but a form of ''[[motion (physics)|motion]]''. Rumford had observed the frictional heat generated by boring cannon at the arsenal in Munich. Rumford immersed a cannon barrel in water and arranged for a specially blunted boring tool.<ref>{{cite book | last = Rosen | first = William | title = The most powerful idea in the world : a story of steam, industry, and invention | publisher = Random House | location = New York | year = 2010 | isbn = 978-1400067053 |page=274}}</ref> He showed that the water could be boiled within roughly two and a half hours and that the supply of frictional heat was seemingly inexhaustible. Rumford confirmed that no physical change had taken place in the material of the cannon by comparing the specific heats of the material machined away and that remaining.

Rumford argued that the seemingly indefinite generation of heat was incompatible with the caloric theory. He contended that the only thing communicated to the barrel was motion.

Rumford made no attempt to further quantify the heat generated or to measure the mechanical equivalent of heat. Though this work met with a hostile reception, it was subsequently important in establishing the laws of [[conservation of energy]] later in the 19th century.

===Calorific and frigorific radiation===
He explained [[Pictet's experiment]], which demonstrates the reflection of cold, by supposing that all bodies emit invisible rays, undulations in the ethereal fluid.<ref>{{cite web
 | title = Pictet's experiment: The apparent radiation and reflection of cold
 | author = James Evans and Brian Popp
 | publisher = Am. J. Phys. 53 (8)
 | year = 1985
 | pages = 737–753
 | url = http://www2.ups.edu/faculty/jcevans/Pictet's%20experiment.pdf
 }}</ref> He did experiments to support his theories of calorific and frigorific radiation and said the communication of heat was the net effect of calorific (hot) rays and frigorific (cold) rays and the rays emitted by the object. When an object absorbs radiation from a warmer object (calorific rays) its temperature rises, and when it absorbs radiation from a colder object (frigorific rays) its temperature falls. See note 8, "An enquiry concerning the nature of heat and the mode of its communication" Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, starting at page 112.{{Full citation needed|date=May 2020}}

===Inventions and design improvements===
[[Image:Rumford fire2.jpg|thumb|left|Section of Rumford fireplace]]
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Rumford 5.jpg|thumb|Rumford's coffee percolator]] -->

Thompson was an active and prolific inventor, developing improvements for chimneys, fireplaces and industrial furnaces, as well as inventing the double boiler, a [[kitchen range]], and a [[Coffee percolator|coffee percolator roughly between 1810 and 1814]]. He invented a percolating coffee pot following his pioneering work with the Bavarian Army, where he improved the diet of the soldiers as well as their clothes.<ref name="Kleppner">{{cite journal |last1=Kleppner  |first1=Daniel |title=About Benjamin Thompson |journal=Physics Today |date=1 September 1992 |volume=45 |issue=9 |pages=9–11 |doi=10.1063/1.2809791 |bibcode=1992PhT....45i...9K |url=https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article-abstract/45/9/9/407150/About-Benjamin-Thompson |access-date=9 July 2023 |author1-link=Daniel Kleppner |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The [[Rumford fireplace]] created a sensation in London when he introduced the idea of restricting the chimney opening to increase the updraught, which was a much more efficient way to heat a room than earlier fireplaces. He and his workers modified fireplaces by inserting bricks into the hearth to make the side walls angled, and added a choke to the chimney to increase the speed of air going up the flue. The effect was to produce a streamlined air flow, so all the smoke would go up into the chimney rather than lingering and entering the room. It also had the effect of increasing the efficiency of the fire, and gave extra control of the rate of combustion of the fuel, whether wood or [[coal]]. Many fashionable London houses were modified to his instructions, and became smoke-free.<ref name="Kleppner" />

Thompson became a celebrity when news of his success spread. His work was also very profitable, and much imitated when he published his analysis of the way chimneys worked. In many ways, he was similar to [[Benjamin Franklin]], who also invented a new kind of heating stove.

The retention of heat was a recurring theme in his work, as he is also credited with the invention of [[thermal underwear]].<ref>[http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/152.mf1i.spring02/What%20is%20Heat.htm Prof. Michael Fowler of the University of Virginia, lecture notes], and ''[[Have I Got News For You]]'', first transmitted 16 December 2005, [[BBC1]].</ref>

===Industrial furnaces===
[[File:Rumford oven.svg|thumb| Cross section of a [[Rumford furnace]], with the fuel chamber at the left]]
Thompson also significantly improved the design of kilns used to produce [[quicklime]], and [[Rumford furnace]]s were soon being constructed throughout Europe. The key innovation involved separating the burning fuel from the limestone, so that the lime produced by the heat of the furnace was not contaminated by ash from the fire.

===Light and photometry===
Rumford worked in [[photometry (optics)|photometry]], the measurement of light.  He made a photometer and introduced the [[Candela#History|standard candle]], the predecessor of the [[candela]], as a unit of [[luminous intensity]].  His standard candle was made from the oil of a sperm whale, to rigid specifications.<ref>{{cite book
 | title = International Encyclopedia of Ergonomics and Human Factors
 | author = Waldemar Karwowski
 | publisher = CRC Press
 | year = 2006
 | isbn = 978-0-415-30430-6
 | page = 1478
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tl5YAj10BcsC&q=benjamin-thompson++photometry+candle&pg=PA1478
 }}</ref> He also published studies of "illusory" or subjective complementary colours, induced by the shadows created by two lights, one white and one coloured; these observations were cited and generalized by [[Michel-Eugène Chevreul]] as his "law of simultaneous colour contrast" in 1839.<ref>{{cite book
 | title = The Complete Works of Count Rumford, Vol. 5
 | author = Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford
 | publisher = American Academy of Arts and Sciences
 | year = 1876
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=udu4AAAAIAAJ&q=%22count+rumford%22+experiments+coloured+shadows&pg=PA51}}</ref>

==Later life==
[[Image:A lecture on pneumatics at the Royal Institution, London. Co Wellcome V0006724.jpg|thumb|right|Satirical cartoon by [[James Gillray]] showing a Royal Institution lecture on pneumatics with Davy holding the bellows and Count Rumford looking on at extreme right. Dr Garnett is the lecturer holding the victim's nose.]]

After 1799, he divided his time between France and England. With Sir [[Joseph Banks]], he established the [[Royal Institution]] of [[Great Britain]] in 1799. The pair chose Sir [[Humphry Davy]] as the first lecturer. The institution flourished and became world-famous as a result of Davy's pioneering research. His assistant, [[Michael Faraday]], established the Institution as a premier research laboratory, and also justly famous for its series of public lectures popularizing science. That tradition continues to the present, and the Royal Institution [[Christmas lectures]] attract large audiences through their TV broadcasts.
[[File:Benjamin Thompson Count Rumsford.jpg|thumb|A bust of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, in Rumford, Rhode Island.]]
Thompson endowed the [[Rumford medal]]s of the [[Royal Society]] and the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], and endowed the [[Rumford Chair of Physics]] at [[Harvard University]]. In 1803, he was elected a foreign member of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]], and as a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Benjamin+Thompson&smode=advanced|access-date=1 April 2021|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

After several affairs and a close friendship with Mary Temple, Viscountess Palmerston,<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1080/00026980.2023.2234717 | title=When Ben met Mary: The Letters of Benjamin Thompson, Reichsgraf von Rumford, to Mary Temple, Viscountess Palmerston, 1793–1804 | date=2023 | last1=James | first1=Frank A. J. L. | journal=Ambix | volume=70 | issue=3 | pages=207–328 | pmid=37615065 | doi-access=free }}</ref> in 1804, he married [[Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze|Marie-Anne Lavoisier]], the widow of the great French [[chemist]] [[Antoine Lavoisier]]. (His American wife, Sarah—whom he had abandoned at the outbreak of the American Revolution—had died in 1792.)<ref>{{cite book |title=Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, with Notices of his Daughter |author=George E. Ellis |publisher=Macmillan and Company |location=London |year=1875 |page=43}}</ref> Thompson separated from his second wife after three years, but he settled in [[Paris]] and continued his scientific work until his death on 21 August 1814. Thompson is buried in the small cemetery of [[Auteuil, Paris|Auteuil]] in Paris, just across from [[Adrien-Marie Legendre]]. Upon his death, his daughter from his first marriage, [[Sarah Thompson, Countess Rumford|Sarah Thompson]], inherited his title as Countess Rumford.

He was also known to have been a lover of [[George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://wng.org/sift/happy-fourth-of-july-thanks-to-two-loutish-british-lords-1617407797 | title=Happy Fourth of July—thanks to two loutish British lords }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bobarnebeck.com/homosexuality.html|title=Homosexuality in the 1790s| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190307205520/https://bobarnebeck.com/homosexuality.html | archive-date=2019-03-07 | website=bobarnebeck.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.elisarolle.com/queerplaces/fghij/George%20Germain,%201st%20Viscount%20Sackville.html | title=George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville | website=www.elisarolle.com}}</ref>

==Honours==
* Colonel, [[King's American Dragoons]].
* [[Knight]]ed, 1784.
* [[Count of the Holy Roman Empire]], 1791.
* The crater [[Rumford (crater)|Rumford]] on the [[Moon]] is named after him.
* Rumford [[baking powder]] (patented 1859) is named after him, having been invented by a former Rumford professor at Harvard University, [[Eben Norton Horsford]] (1818–1893), cofounder of the Rumford Chemical Works of East Providence, RI.
* [[Ellen Swallow Richards#Rumford Kitchen|Rumford Kitchen]] at the [[World's Columbian Exposition|World's Fair in Chicago]], 1893.
* A street in the inner city of Munich is named after him.
* Rumford Street (and the nearby Rumford Place) in Liverpool, England, are so named due to a soup kitchen established to Count Rumford's plan which formerly stood on land adjacent to Rumford Street.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://liverpoolpictorial.co.uk/streetnames.htm |title=Liverpool Street Names |website=liverpoolpictorial.co.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010801171159/http://www.liverpoolpictorial.co.uk/streetnames.htm |archive-date=1 August 2001}}</ref>
* {{flagcountry|Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth}}: [[Order of the White Eagle (Poland)|Order of the White Eagle]] (1789).

==Bibliography==
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=kqU6zcQ0za4C ''An Essay on Chimney Fire-Places; With Proposals for Improving Them, to Save Fuel, to Render Dwelling-Houses More Comfortable and Salubrious, and Effectually to Prevent Chimnies from Smoking. Illustrated with Engravings''], (1796).
* [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674139510 ''Collected Works of Count Rumford, Volume I, The Nature of Heat''], (1968).
* [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674139527 ''Collected Works of Count Rumford, Volume II, Practical Applications of Heat''], (1969).
* [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674139534 ''Collected Works of Count Rumford, Volume III, Devices and Techniques''], (1969).
* [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674139541 ''Collected Works of Count Rumford, Volume IV, Light and Armament''], (1970).
* [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674139558 ''Collected Works of Count Rumford, Volume V, Public Institutions''], (1970).

== See also ==
* [[History of thermodynamics]]

==Citations==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{EB1911 poster|Rumford, Benjamin Thompson, Count}}
* {{cite book | author=Cardwell, D.S.L. | title=From Watt to Clausius: The Rise of Thermodynamics in the Early Industrial Age | location=London | publisher=Heinemann | year=1971 | isbn=0-435-54150-1 | pages=95–107 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Martin |first=T. |date=1951 |title=The Experimental Researches of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4024834 |journal=Bulletin of the British Society for the History of Science |volume=1 |issue=6 |pages=144–158)|doi=10.1017/S0950563600000567 |jstor=4024834 |url-access=subscription }}

==Further reading==
{{EB1911 poster|Rumford, Benjamin Thompson, Count}}
* {{cite book | author=Bradley, D. | title=Count Rumford | url=https://archive.org/details/countrumford00brad | url-access=registration | publisher=Van Nostrand | year=1967 | asin=B0000CM48T }}
* {{cite book | author=Brown, G.I. | title=Count Rumford: The Extraordinary Life of a Scientific Genius – Scientist, Soldier, Statesman, Spy | publisher=Sutton Publishing | year=2001 | isbn=0-262-02138-2 }}
* {{cite book |author=Brown, S.C. |title=Count Rumford: Physicist Extraordinary |publisher=Doubleday & Co |year=1962}}
* {{cite book | author=Brown, S.C. | title=Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford | url=https://archive.org/details/benjaminthompson00brow | url-access=registration | location=Cambridge USA | publisher=MIT Press | year=1981 | isbn=0-262-02138-2 }}
* {{cite book | author=Larsen, E. | title=An American in Europe: The life of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford | publisher=Rider | year=1953 | asin=B0000CII01 }}
* {{cite book | author=Orton, V. | title=The Forgotten Art of Building a Good Fireplace: The Story of Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, an American Genius & His Principles of Fireplace Design Which Have Remained Unchanged for 174 Years | publisher=Alan C. Hood and Company Inc | year=2000 | isbn=0-911469-17-6 }}
* {{cite book | author=Sparrow, W.J. | title=Knight of the White Eagle: A biography of Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, 1753-1814 | publisher=Hutchinson | year=1964 | asin=B0000CM48T }}

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline}}
* Eric Weisstein's World of Science. "''[http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Rumford.html Rumford, Benjamin Thompson]''". (1753–1814)
* [http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol23no1/rowlinson.html Dr. Hugh C. Rowlinson "''The Contribution of Count Rumford to Domestic Life in Jane Austen’s Time''"] An article not only detailing the Rumford fireplace, but also Rumford's life and other achievements.
* {{Gutenberg author |id=513}}
* {{Internet Archive author |search=( Benjamin AND (Thompson OR "1753–1814") AND Rumford )}}
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070605151504/http://www.homeofourfathers.com/lisbeth/benjaminthompsonjrlifestory.htm A Biography of Benjamin Thompson, Jr. Written in 1868]}}
* [http://www.numericana.com/arms/rumford.htm Escutcheons of Science]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100105042435/http://www.countrumford.com/ Count Rumford's Birth Place and Museum]
* [http://www.rumford.com/Rumford.html Count Rumford Fireplaces website]
{{Wikisource-inline|list=
** "[[s:Popular Science Monthly/Volume 9/June 1876/Sketch of Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford)|Sketch of Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford)]]," ''[[Popular Science Monthly]]'', Vol. 9, June 1876.
** {{Cite DNB|wstitle=Thompson, Benjamin (1754-1814) |short=x |noicon=x}}
** {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Rumford, Benjamin Thompson, Count|year=1905|short=x |noicon=x}}
** {{Cite NSRW|wstitle=Count Rumford|short=x |noicon=x}}
}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=W. Knox<br />T. De Grey}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies]]<br /><small>with W. Knox</small>
  |years=1780–1781}}
{{s-aft|after=W. Knox<br />J. Fisher}}
{{s-end}}

{{Copley Medallists 1751–1800}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Benjamin}}
[[Category:1753 births]]
[[Category:1814 deaths]]
[[Category:Loyalists in the American Revolution from New Hampshire]]
[[Category:American physicists]]
[[Category:British physicists]]
[[Category:Counts of the Holy Roman Empire|Rumford]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Harvard University people]]
[[Category:People from the Electorate of Bavaria]]
[[Category:People from colonial Massachusetts]]
[[Category:People from colonial New Hampshire]]
[[Category:People from Woburn, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Copley Medal]]
[[Category:18th-century American scientists]]
[[Category:19th-century American people]]
[[Category:18th-century British military personnel]]
[[Category:19th-century British people]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)]]
[[Category:Thermodynamicists]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:18th-century English LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:19th-century English LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:18th-century American LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:19th-century American LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:English LGBTQ politicians]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:LGBTQ people from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:LGBTQ people from New Hampshire]]