Place Name
William Thomson (June 26, 1824 – December 17, 1907), 1st Baron Kelvin, was a mathematical physicist and engineer. He was knighted in 1866 by Queen Victoria for his work on the transatlantic telegraph project and later improvements to the mariner’s compass. He is probably best known today for having absolute temperatures named after him, having worked out the exact value of absolute zero as approximately −273.15 degree Celsius or −459.67 degree Fahrenheit. He was the first British scientist to be elevated to the House of Lords. The title refers to the River Kelvin, which flows near his former laboratory at the University of Glasgow. However, all these achievements aside, it is his role in helping introduce accurate methods and apparatus for measuring electricity that he is remembered here. For this is laid out over the site of the old Croydon B power station, in Valley Park Croydon where the roads have a connection to the development of electricity. The others are: Ampere Way, Faraday Way, Franklin Way, Hesterman Way, and Volta Way.
