Birth: Sale, Northern England 1818
Background: The son of Benjamin Joule, a wealthy brewer.
For reference: the electric motor is invented in 1832. As Joule is growing up, it's hot, new technology.
Education: Joule was tutored at home until 1834, then he was sent, with his elder brother, to study at the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. He only studied there for two years.
The result of his studies: Joule was fascinated by electricity. He and his brother experimented by giving electric shocks to each other and to the family's servants.
Father's footsteps: Joule became a manager of the brewery until 1854. He started to investigate the feasibility of replacing the brewery's steam engines with the electric motor. He has already written his first scientific paper.
Experimentation: He discovered Joule's law in 1840, although he didn't gain any notoriety with the Royal Society.
Cambridge: In 1845, Joule read his paper On the mechanical equivalent of heat to the British Association meeting in Cambridge. He explained one of his most famous experiments, involving the use of a falling weight to spin a paddle-wheel in an insulated barrel of water, whose increased temperature he measured.
Teamwork: Joule collaborates with William Thomson and discovers the Joule-Thomson effect in 1852, showing that gas can expand at a constant internal energy. This collaboration lasts four years.
Bankruptcy: Joule funded most his research himself, and the funds finally ran out in 1875. He was granted a government pension shortly after, but he was often ill until his death in 1889 in Sale.

The result of his studies: Joule was fascinated by electricity. He and his brother experimented by giving electric shocks to each other and to the family's servants.
Father's footsteps: Joule became a manager of the brewery until 1854. He started to investigate the feasibility of replacing the brewery's steam engines with the electric motor. He has already written his first scientific paper.
Experimentation: He discovered Joule's law in 1840, although he didn't gain any notoriety with the Royal Society.
Cambridge: In 1845, Joule read his paper On the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat to the British Association meeting in Cambridge. He explained one of his most famous experiments, involving the use of a falling weight to spin a paddle-wheel in an insulated barrel of water, and measuring the increase in temperature of the water.
Teamwork: Joule collaborates with William Thomson and discovers the Joule-Thomson effect in 1852, showing that gas can expand at a constant internal energy.

This collaboration lasts four years.

Bankruptcy: Joule funded most his research himself, and the funds finally ran out in 1875. He was granted a government pension shortly after, but he was often ill until his death in 1889 in Sale.