Samuel Tolver Preston (8 July 1844 – 1917) was an English

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

. His parents were Daniel Bloom Preston (born 1807) and Mary Susannah Tolver. Preston was educated as a Telegraph-engineer. He went to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

where he attained his

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

in 1894 with

Ludwig Boltzmann Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann (; 20 February 1844 – 5 September 1906) was an Austrian physicist and philosopher. His greatest achievements were the development of statistical mechanics, and the statistical explanation of the second law of thermodyn ...

. After that, he worked as a teacher. He is known for his works (1875–1894) on the

kinetic theory Kinetic (Ancient Greek: κίνησις “kinesis”, movement or to move) may refer to: * Kinetic theory, describing a gas as particles in random motion * Kinetic energy, the energy of an object that it possesses due to its motion Art and ente ...

of gases and his attempts to combine this theory with

Le Sage's theory of gravitation Le Sage's theory of gravitation is a kinetic theory of gravity originally proposed by Nicolas Fatio de Duillier in 1690 and later by Georges-Louis Le Sage in 1748. The theory proposed a mechanical explanation for Newton's gravitational force in ...

. In his book ''Physics of the Ether'' (1875) he claimed that if matter is subdivided into ether particles, they would travel at the

speed of light The speed of light in vacuum, commonly denoted , is a universal physical constant that is important in many areas of physics. The speed of light is exactly equal to ). According to the special theory of relativity, is the upper limit ...

and represent an enormous amount of energy. In this way, one

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

of matter would contain energy equal to 1000 million foot-tons (whereby one foot-ton = 2240

foot pounds The foot-pound force (symbol: ft⋅lbf, ft⋅lbf, or ft⋅lb ) is a unit of work or energy in the engineering and gravitational systems in United States customary and imperial units of measure. It is the energy transferred upon applying a fo ...

). Preston also seemed to be the first (1885) to recognize the redundancy of

Michael Faraday Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...

's explanation of

electromagnetic induction Electromagnetic or magnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force (emf) across an electrical conductor in a changing magnetic field. Michael Faraday is generally credited with the discovery of induction in 1831, and James Clerk ...

. Einstein recognized a similar problem in his paper "On the electrodynamics of moving bodies" (1905, i.e. special relativity). In 1876 he corresponded with

James Clerk Maxwell James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish mathematician and scientist responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and ligh ...

and alluded to the work of

John James Waterston John James Waterston (1811 – 18 June 1883) was a Scotland, Scottish physicist and a neglected pioneer of the kinetic theory of gases. Early life Waterston's father, George, was an Edinburgh sealing wax manufacturer and stationer, a relative of ...

. In 1880 he corresponded with

Charles Robert Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

Publications

*''Physics of the ether''; 1875 *'' On some dynamical conditions applicable to LeSage’s theory of gravitation'' (1877); Phil. Mag., fifth ser. Vol. 4 (1877), pp. 206–213, 364-375; Vol. 5 (1878), pp. 117–127, 297-311 *''Mode of the Propagation of Sound, and the Physical Condition Determining its Velocity on the Basis of the Kinetic Theory of Gases''; (1877) *''Temperature Equilibrium in the Universe in Relation to the Kinetic Theory''; Nature 20, 1879, p. 28 *''On the Possibility of Accounting for the Continuance of Recurring Changes in the Universe, consistently with the Tendency to Temperature-Equilibrium''; Philosophical Magazine 8, 1879, p. 152/163. *''On the possibility of explaining the continuance of life in the Universe Consistent with the Tendency to Temperature-equilibrium''; Nature 19, 1879, p. 460/462 *''On Method in Causal Research''; in: ''Philosophical magazine'', ix (1880), S. 356–367 *''A Question regarding one of the Physical Premises upon which the Finality of Universal Change is based''; Philosophical Magazine 10, 1880, p. 338/342. *''Science and sectarian religion''; in: ''S. T. Preston, Original essays''; London, 1884, S. 19–51. *''Ueber das gegenseitige Verhältniss einiger zur dynamischen Erklärung der Gravitation aufgestellten Hypothesen''; Inauguraldissertation von 1894, München, Phil. Fak. *'' Comparative Review of some Dynamical Theories of Gravitation''; Philosophical Magazine 1895, Vol. 35, p. 145ff. *''On Certain Questions connected with Astronomical Physics''; Philosophical Magazine 1906, Vol. 12, p. 560ff. *''On Certain Questions connected with Astronomical Physics, Part II''; Philosophical Magazine 1907, Vol. 14, p. 265ff. *''On some Physical Relations affecting Matter in Diverse Stages of Subdivision''; Philosophical Magazine 1908, Vol. 16, p. 345ff.

References

External links

* *Bettini: ''A Cosmic Archipelago: Multiverse Scenarios in the History of Modern Cosmology''. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Preston, Samuel Tolver 1844 births 1917 deaths English physicists English engineers

Publications

See also

References

External links