The impact of religion on Kelvin's physical insights. Thermodynamics and the age of the earth

Abstract

Thermodynamics developed as a new branch of physics in the 19th century helping to go beyond a purely mechanistic understanding of nature. Among its founding fathers, it is William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) who offers a most promising perspective in order to highlight the influence of religious views in the improvement of science. In this article, I will focus on the controversy about the age of the Earth which confronted Kelvin with many geologists and defenders of the theory of evolution and I will explain the connections between Kelvin s credo and his scientific attack on uniformitarianism. Kelvin s contribution, even if ultimately proven wrong, was right in spirit and served the transition from qualitative to quantitative geology.