Rumford, Count, Birthplace - View this location on map Count Rumford, born in this house as Benjamin Thompson in 1753, was one of the first native-born Americans to gain international recognition for his contributions to science when, in 1798, he disproved the prevailing caloric theory of the nature of heat. During the Revolution, he was a loyalist and a British spy. Abandoning his wife and child, he left Boston for England in 1775. There and on the continent he rapidly achieved fame and fortune. In 1784 he was knighted and honored as Count Rumford of the Holy Roman Empire. A man of many talents, he experimented with everything from stoves and fireplaces to carriages and coffee. He endowed a chair at Harvard and established the still-awarded Rumford Prize for 'the most important discovery, or useful improvement, in any part of the continent of America, or in any of the American Islands, on Heat or on Light.' 90 Elm Street, Woburn, Massachusetts Historical

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