IMO, Kelvin is a wrong example for being usefully wrong.
http://www.usd.edu/esci/age/content/failed_scientific_clocks...
He argued against evolution based on wrong assumptions (which at his time were speculative).
He was arrogant and didn't submit to reason; He didn't publicly retract his stand even after he was proven wrong. All this points to his arrogance and fanaticism.
And Kedrosky's blog post is a little lame too:
"Kelvin did not believe that heavier-than-air flying machines were possible and he regarded X-rays as a hoax"
At the turn of the twentieth century he
"claimed that physics was nearly complete and all problems would soon be settled."
After mentioning these he goes on to claim that Kelvin's "genius as a physicist was manifested by the fact" that he predicted the "unexpected behavior of ether in Michelson-Morley experiment", and black-body radiation as two open problems in physics at that time.
the unexpected results of Michelson-Morley experiment brought classical physics to its knees. Anyone with a decent understanding of physics at that time would have considered that solving this problem is going to directly open doors to great findings.
Kelvin, sure was a genius in physics, but these are definitely not signs of it.
And he didn't come across as an open minded person.
http://www.usd.edu/esci/age/content/failed_scientific_clocks... He argued against evolution based on wrong assumptions (which at his time were speculative). He was arrogant and didn't submit to reason; He didn't publicly retract his stand even after he was proven wrong. All this points to his arrogance and fanaticism.
And Kedrosky's blog post is a little lame too: "Kelvin did not believe that heavier-than-air flying machines were possible and he regarded X-rays as a hoax" At the turn of the twentieth century he "claimed that physics was nearly complete and all problems would soon be settled." After mentioning these he goes on to claim that Kelvin's "genius as a physicist was manifested by the fact" that he predicted the "unexpected behavior of ether in Michelson-Morley experiment", and black-body radiation as two open problems in physics at that time.
the unexpected results of Michelson-Morley experiment brought classical physics to its knees. Anyone with a decent understanding of physics at that time would have considered that solving this problem is going to directly open doors to great findings.
Kelvin, sure was a genius in physics, but these are definitely not signs of it. And he didn't come across as an open minded person.