Joseph Black (16.04.1728-6.12.1799) was a Scottish chemist and physicist and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1783). He was born in Bordeaux (France). He studied at the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. In 1756—66 he was professor at the university in Glasgow, and in 1766—97 at the University of Edinburgh.
He was the founder of physical research in calorimetry. He invented the ice calorimeter. In 1762 he introduced the concept of latent heat and made the first measurements of the latent heat of the melting of ice and of vaporisation. He observed that the temperature does not change while ice melts and water boils. He pointed out the difference between quantity of heat and temperature. He introduced the concept of the “heat capacity” of a body (1770), and the term itself.
A member of the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1783) and of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1789).