Count Benjamin Thompson Rumford

Benjamin Thompson Rumford, Count 1753-1814, American-British scientist and administrator, b. Woburn, Mass. In 1776 he went to England, where he served (1780-81) as undersecretary of the colonies, conducting significant experiments with gunpowder in his spare time. Later he entered the service of the elector of Bavaria as an administrator. He was knighted in 1784 and in 1791 was created count of the Holy Roman Empire. He chose his title from the name of the town Rumford (later Concord), N.H., where his wife was born. Returning to England (1795), he introduced improved methods of heating and cooking, and developed a more accurate theory of heat. In contrast to the prevalent belief that heat was a substance, he presented, in a paper (1798) to the Royal Society, the theory that heat was produced by the motion of particles. He founded the Royal Institution in England, established the Rumford medal of the Royal Society, and founded the Rumford professorship of chemistry at Harvard.

Bibliography: See biographies by E. Larsen (1953) and W. J. Sparrow (1964).

Rumford, Sir Benjamin Thompson, Graf (Count) von (1753–1814). British-American soldier, scientist, inventor, philanthropist, administrator, and universal man. As a Loyalist, he settled in England, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and decided to further his military career by fighting the Turks in Europe. Settling in Munich, he became Minister of War, Minister of Police, and Grand Chamberlain to the Elector of Bavaria. He reorganized the Bavarian Army, did much to improve the condition of the labouring classes, and suppressed mendicity. In 1791 he was created a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, taking the title Rumford from the township in America to which his first wife's family belonged (now Concord, NH). He concerned himself also with improvements to fireplace-construction and the reduction of pollution from chimneys, and did much to reform hospitals and workhouses in Ireland. With Sir Joseph Banks (1743–1820) he founded the Royal Institution of Great Britain (1799), and himself made the first sketches (now in the RIBA) for the lecture-room of the Institution at 20–21 Albermarle Street, London. In Munich a large tract of land belonging to the Elector Karl Theodor of Bavaria (reigned 1777–99) was transformed at Rumford's instigation, the designer being Sckell: it is known as the Englischer Garten, is one of the very first public parks designed as such, and is in the Picturesque English landscape garden style. Rumford published his thoughts on the benefits of public parks in his Essays Political, Economical, and Philosophical (1796–1802), an American edition of which appeared in 1798–1804, and a German in 1797–8. His work proved to be a considerable influence on Downing, Olmsted, and others. In 1805 Rumford took as his second wife Marie-Anne Pierret Paulze (1758–1836), widow of the distinguished French scientist, Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743–94—guillotined during the Terror).

Bibliography

EB (1959);
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)

Thompson, Benjamin ( Count Rumford) (1753–1814) An American-born inventor, Rumford is best known for founding the Royal Institution in Britain in 1799, ‘to promote useful science’. He made studies of heat, leading to investigations of gunpowder, and improvements in lamps, cookers, and fireplaces.