Ludwig A. Colding

Ludwig August Colding (13 July 1815 – 21 March 1888) was a Danish civil engineer and physicist who articulated the principle of conservation of energy contemporaneously with, and independently of, James Prescott Joule and Julius Robert von Mayer though his contribution was largely overlooked and neglected.

He oversaw a vast range of public housing, transport, lighting and sanitation projects and gained a high reputation throughout Denmark and internationally.

[1] Colding found time for private scientific work in fluid mechanics, hydrology, oceanography and meteorology as well as electromagnetism and thermodynamics.

[1] With Ørsted's support, a further series of quantitative experiments was sponsored by the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, culminating in a report in 1847.

[1] Colding's thermodynamic work was neglected both in his native Denmark and internationally though, from an historical perspective, he seems to deserve no less credit in the development of the concept of energy than Joule or Mayer.