born July 5, 1820, Edinburgh, Scot.
died Dec. 24, 1872, Glasgow
Scottish engineer and physicist, one of the founders of thermodynamics .
His classic Manual of the Steam Engine and Other Prime Movers (1859) was the first attempt at a systematic treatment of the theory of steam engine s. He worked out a thermodynamic cycle of events (the Rankine cycle ) that was used as a standard for the performance of steam-power installations in which a condensable vapour provides the working fluid.