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 Durham University Department of Physics The Department of Physics at Durham University in Durham, England, is a large physics and astronomy department involved in both undergraduate teaching and scientific research. In the most recent subject review report by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) for Higher Education, the department achieved maximum marks (24/24) and in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise the department retained a Grade 5A rating. In addition, the department's research into Space Science and Astrophysics was rated as number one in Europe and fourth in the world by Thomson Reuters from its Essential Science Indicators (1998–2008). The department is