James Thomson Bottomley

James Thomson Bottomley (10 January 1845 – 18 May 1926) was an Irish-born British physicist. He is noted for his work on thermal radiation and on his creation of 4-figure logarithm tables, used to convert long multiplication and division calculations to simpler addition and subtraction before the introduction of fast calculators. Background He was born in Fort Breda, County Down in Ireland, on 10 January 1845, the son of William Bottomley JP, a merchant in nearby Belfast. His mother, Anna Thomson, was the sister of William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, a connection which served him well throughout his life.