count remford

Count Rumford, for whom the Rumford fireplace is named, was born Benjamin Thompson in Woburn, Massachusetts in 1753 and, because he was a loyalist, he left (abruptly) with the British in 1776. He spent much of his life as an employee of the Bavarian government where he received his title, "Count of the Holy Roman Empire." Rumford is known primarily for the work he did on the nature of heat. Back in England, Rumford applied his knowledge …

…clear and distinct ideas of the speculations and also of the specific objects of philosophical investigation they suggested to me, I must beg leave to state them at some length and in such manner as I shall think best to answer this purpose. From whence comes the heat actually produced in the mechanical operation above mentioned? Is it furnished by the metallic chips which are separated by the borer from the solid mass of metal.