Editing Lord Kelvin (section)

=== Cambridge ===
William's father was able to make a generous provision for his favourite son's education and, in 1841, installed him, with extensive letters of introduction and ample accommodation, at [[Peterhouse, Cambridge]]. While at Cambridge, Thomson was active in sports, athletics and [[sculling]], winning the Colquhoun Sculls in 1843.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mayer |first1=Roland |title=Peterhouse Boat Club 1828–1978 |year=1978 |publisher=Peterhouse Boat Club |isbn=0-9506181-0-1 |page=5}}</ref> He took a lively interest in the classics, music, and literature; but the real love of his intellectual life was the pursuit of science. The study of mathematics, physics, and in particular, of electricity, had captivated his imagination. In 1845 Thomson graduated as [[Wrangler (University of Cambridge)|second wrangler]].<ref>{{acad|id=THN841W|name=Thomson, William}}</ref> He also won the first [[Smith's Prize]], which, unlike the [[tripos]], is a test of original research. [[Robert Leslie Ellis]], one of the examiners, is said to have declared to another examiner "You and I are just about fit to mend his pens."<ref>{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Silvanus |title=The Life of William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs|volume= 1|year=1910|publisher=MacMillan and Co., Limited |page=98|url=https://archive.org/details/b31360403_0001}}</ref>

In 1845, he gave the first mathematical development of [[Michael Faraday]]'s idea that electric induction takes place through an intervening medium, or "[[dielectric]]", and not by some incomprehensible "action at a distance". He also devised the mathematical technique of electrical images, which became a powerful agent in solving problems of [[electrostatics]], the science which deals with the forces between electrically charged bodies at rest. It was partly in response to his encouragement that Faraday undertook the research in September 1845 that led to the discovery of the [[Faraday effect]], which established that light and magnetic (and thus electric) phenomena were related.

He was elected a fellow of St. Peter's (as Peterhouse was often called at the time) in June 1845.<ref name="physicsworld">{{cite news|first=Mark|last=McCartney|title=William Thomson: king of Victorian physics|work=[[Physics World]]|url=http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/16484|date=1 December 2002|access-date=16 July 2008|archive-date=15 July 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080715173557/http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/16484|url-status=dead}}</ref> On gaining the fellowship, he spent some time in the laboratory of the celebrated [[Henri Victor Regnault]], at Paris; but in 1846 he was appointed to the [[Professor of Natural Philosophy, Glasgow|chair of natural philosophy]] in the University of Glasgow. At age 22 he found himself wearing the gown of a professor in one of the oldest universities in the country and lecturing to the class of which he was a first year student a few years before.