The International System of Units (SI) specifies a set of seven base units from which all other SI units of measurement are derived. Each of these other units (SI derived units) is either dimensionless or can be expressed as a product of (positive or negative, but usually integral) powers of one or more of the base units.

James Prescott Joule (24 December 1818 – 11 October 1889) was an English physicist and brewer, born in Salford, Lancashire. Joule studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical work (see energy). This led to the law of conservation of energy, which led to the development of the first law of thermodynamics. The SI derived unit of energy, the joule, is named after James Joule. He worked with Lord Kelvin to develop the absolute scale of temperature the kelvin. Joule also made observations of magnetostriction, and he found the relationship between the current through a resistor and the heat dissipated, which is now called Joule's first law.

The son of Benjamin Joule (1784-1858), a wealthy brewer, and his wife, Alice Prescott, he was born on New Bailey street in Salford. Joule was tutored as a young man by the famous scientist John Dalton and was strongly influenced by chemist William Henry and Manchester engineers Peter Ewart and Eaton Hodgkinson. He was fascinated by electricity, and he and his brother experimented by giving electric shocks to each other and to the family's servants.

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