The first dispute was with Thomson over a result of Joule that he had quoted in one of his papers. Clausius was very critical that a German had been the first to establish the result, not the Englishman Joule.
Ang unang alitan ay Thomson na may higit sa isang resulta ng dyul na niya quoted sa isa sa kanyang mga papeles. Clausius ay napaka-kritikal na ang isang German had been ang unang upang maitaguyod ang mga resulta, hindi ang Ingles dyul.