Benjamin Thompson was something of a soldier-of-fortune: he was a spy for the British during the Revolutionary War; he used his position of influence in the government to take bribes and he worked for several countries to advance the science of...

The American-born British physicist Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford (1753-1814), is best known for his attacks on the caloric theory of heat. Benjamin Thompson was born on March 26, 1753, in Woburn, Mass. He received only 2 years of formal education...

Benjamin Thompson was something of a soldier-of-fortune: he was a spy for the British during the Revolutionary War; he used his position of influence in the government to take bribes; and he worked for several countries to advance the science of...

Benjamin Thompson was something of a soldier-of-fortune: he was a spy for the British during the Revolutionary War; he used his position of influence in the government to take bribes; and he worked for several countries to advance the science of...

Benjamin Thompson, the son of a New England farmer, had little formal schooling. After being injured in a fireworks accident while serving as a merchant's apprentice, he became a teacher in Rumford (now Concord), New Hampshire. There at age 19 he...