Tyngs seldom thought: Briefly, Kelvin on Kant (1897)

Tyngs seldom thought: Briefly, Kelvin on Kant (1897)

Kant pointed out in the middle of last century, what had not previously been discovered by mathematicians or physical astronomers, that the frictional resistance against tidal currents on the earth's surface must cause a diminution of the earth's rotational speed. This immense discovery in Natural Philosophy seems to have attracted little attention,--indeed to have passed quite unnoticed, --among mathematicians, and astronomers, and naturalists, until about 1840, when the doctrine of energy began to be taken to heart.

—Lord Kelvin, physicist, 1897

FUUUUCCCKKK! Is this not wonderful? How intuitive of Kant....Is this fact obvious? Worth communicating?.....Next time I am in the sea this will pre-occupy me.