Born humbly on a farmstead at North Woburn, Massachusetts, today a northern suburb of Boston, he was on the British side in the War of American Independence. He tried to betray America to the British during the Siege of Boston (1775-1776).

According to Rumford's biographer Sanborn Brown (Sanborn C. Brown: Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford.1981), in fact, on more than one occasion Benjamin Thompson's name was associated with Lord Germain Viscount Sackville's name in regard to charges of sodomy.

Fleeing America for Britain, he became one of Lord Germain's spies; then fleeing Britain for the Continent, he became Chief Minister of Bavaria - then turned around and expected to be the Bavarian ambassador to the Court of St. James - simultaneously apply for the rather incongruent position of Superintendent of the American Military Academy at West Point.

He traveled Europe and in 1791 was created Count of the Holy Roman Empire for services to the elector of Bavaria. In 1798 he published his theory that heat is a mode of motion, not a substance as it was believed. In 1799 he founded the Royal institute in London.

Rumford also invented what we would call 'the modern, kitchen' - the compact one which Americans took to heart, the one with the sink, the running water, the ice box, the handy stove (he invented lots of stoves and made and lost fortunes on them), even the trash slot, the broom closet, and the overhead cupboards.

Then he invented a curious kind of masculine pant with a fly down the front ... and up the back! The man was a gay genius. He was dubbed a Casanova - and this is curious for his reputation as the greatest lover of all time, was gay.