Henry Cavendish prefiguring thermodynamics. Theoretical physicist Dietrich Belitz concluded that in this work Cavendish "got the nature of heat essentially right." As Cavendish performed his famous density of the Earth experiment in an outbuilding in the garden of his Clapham Common estate, his neighbours would point out the building and tell their children that it was where the world was weighed. In honour of Henry Cavendish's achievements and due to an endowment granted by Henry's relative William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire, the University of Cambridge's physics laboratory was named the Cavendish Laboratory by James Clerk Maxwell, the first Cavendish Professor of
Durham University Department of Physics situated on the university's Science Site, on the south side of the city of Durham, 2 miles from Junction 62 of the A1(M) and approx 5 minutes drive from Durham Station. Students are members of one of the 14 colleges in the city. Each year the department admits around 170 students for degrees in physics, physics & astronomy and theoretical physics. The current standard conditional offer given to a student taking A-Level examinations is A*A*A, to include physics and mathematics. Admissions are processed through UCAS. In addition, an applicant must be accepted by one of the colleges of Durham University.