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Count Rumford (1753-1814), US-British physicist, coloured artwork. Born Benjamin Thompson, in Massachusetts, USA, he joined the army at 18, acting as a secret agent for the British. He fled to England in 1776 and studied projectiles. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1779. After a brief return to America, he was knighted, and appointed adviser to the Elector of Bavaria. Here he carried out the work he is best remembered for, studying the boring of cannons to show that heat was due to the motion of particles in the body being heated. (KEYSTONE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/SHEILA TERRY)