Review
"Soldier of fortune, spy, courtier, social reformer, minister of state, philanthropist, scientist, and inventor, [Thompson] rose from the obscurity of rural colonial Massachusetts to positions of power and influence in the courts of England, Bavaria, and France.... Sanborn Brown has spent several decades tracking down the documentary records of Rumford's career, and now after many articles and an edition of Rumford's collected works he has chosen here to concentrate upon the man rather than the scientist."
—Science
"There is no doubt that Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, made major contributions to our understanding of heat and to applied physics.... Yet there is also no doubt that he was arrogant, self-aggrandizing, cruel, and unpleasant....
"All this and more is given to us in Sanborn C. Brown's biography. Professor Brown has devoted forty years, off and on, to the study of Rumford...and we are the fortunate beneficiaries of his work. Thompson was a fascinating and complex man and Professor Brown has given us a biography worthy of his subject. The book is a delight to read from end to end."
—The Physics Teacher
"The many illustrations of apparatus in the book may encourage the modern scientific reader. On the other hand, historians will respect the documentation and may find the book of interest for its reflection of the social history of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries."
—Maurice Crosland, The Times Higher Education Supplement
—Science
"There is no doubt that Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, made major contributions to our understanding of heat and to applied physics.... Yet there is also no doubt that he was arrogant, self-aggrandizing, cruel, and unpleasant....
"All this and more is given to us in Sanborn C. Brown's biography. Professor Brown has devoted forty years, off and on, to the study of Rumford...and we are the fortunate beneficiaries of his work. Thompson was a fascinating and complex man and Professor Brown has given us a biography worthy of his subject. The book is a delight to read from end to end."
—The Physics Teacher
"The many illustrations of apparatus in the book may encourage the modern scientific reader. On the other hand, historians will respect the documentation and may find the book of interest for its reflection of the social history of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries."
—Maurice Crosland, The Times Higher Education Supplement
