The Young Kelvin Prize

! DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS FRIDAY 11th APRIL 2025

William Thomson, Lord Kelvin OM GCVO PC PRS FRSE (1824-1907)

William Thomson was born in Belfast in 1824, part of the Ulster-Scots community that was busy transforming the city into an industrial powerhouse. After attending the Royal Belfast Academical Institution ('Inst') he went to the University of Glasgow and Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he was a brilliant student. A glittering scientific career followed. Back at Glasgow as a professor by 23, his research revolutionised our understanding of physics - absolute temperatures are measured in Degrees Kelvin - and his innovations, including the first underwater telegraph cable, changed lives around the world.

During a career spanning over 50 years, he earned many accolades. He was knighted, served as President of the Royal Society, became the first scientist raised to the peerage as Lord Kelvin of Largs and was one of the first members of the Order of Merit. On his death in 1907, he was buried in Westminster Abbey alongside Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, cementing his place as one of the greatest scientists of all time.

To mark the bicentenary of his birth, the Ulster-Scots Agency and Institute of Physics have established the Young Kelvin Prize, with the aim of perpetuating his memory in Ulster and encouraging young people to follow in his footsteps by making physics their choice for university and a future career.

Portrait of William Thomson. 1846 (Aged 22)

Portrait of William Thomson. 1846 (Aged 22) 

Getting Involved

Participation in the Young Kelvin Prize is open to all individual young people in Northern Ireland and the border counties of Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan who are studying physics at AS/A Level and Leaving Certificate.

Entries will take the form of a short video of 3-5 minutes explaining an aspect of Kelvin's work, which can be something that he got right, or something he got wrong.

Judging

Entries will be judged by a panel of experts from the Institute of Physics and two prizes will be awarded, one for the student who demonstrates the strongest understanding of the physics and one for the student who demonstrates the most creativity in explaining it.

Prizes

There are three prizes: two for individual students and one school prize. 

  1. Best demonstration of physics knowledge – The video which demonstrates the greatest breadth and depth of physics knowledge in 3 minutes 
  2. Best demonstration of science communication – The video which explains the topic, but in the most accessible manner to a non-physics audience, in 3 minutes 
  3. School Prize – An award to the school which has the best quantity and quality of entries to the competition.

How to Enter

There are two options to enter the Young Kelvin Prize. 

  1. YouTube 
    Upload your video to YouTube and submit the link.
    Videos should be entitled Young Kelvin Prize 2024-25 (Insert name of topic).
    It is appreciated that not all will be comfortable with this option, so it is recommended comments are switched off to prevent trolling, etc.
     
  2. Dropbox 
    Videos should be in MP4 format, and the download link sent via the free Dropbox option – (this allows up to 2GB free transfer and lets the recipient know when the video has been downloaded). 

All links should be emailed to ireland@iop.org. 

Please ensure that full details of the entrant are included in the email: 

  • Name 
  • School Year 
  • Name of School. 

The deadline for submissions is Friday 11th April 2025.