Julius Robert von Mayer was born on November 25, 1814 in Heilbronn, Wurttemberg (modern day Germany). Even as a young child, Mayer showed an intense interest with various mechanical mechanisms. He was a young man who performed various experiments of the physical and chemical variety. In fact, one of his favorite hobbies was creating various types of electrical devices and air pumps. It was very obvious that he was indeed very gifted. Hence, Mayer attended Eberhard-Karls University in May of 1832. He studied medicine during his time there. In 1837, he and some of his friends were arrested for wearing the colors of a forbidden organization. The consequences for this arrest included a one year expulsion from the college and a brief period of incarceration. This diversion sent Mayer traveling to Switzerland, France, and the Dutch East Indies. Mayer drew some additional interest in mathematics and engineering from his friend Carl Baur through private tutoring. In 1841, Mayer returned to Heilbronn to practice medicine, but physics became his new passion. In June of 1841, he completed his first scientific paper entitled, "On the Quantitative and Qualitative Determination of Forces." It was largely ignored by other professionals in the area. Then, Mayer became interested in the area of heat and its motion. He presented a value in numerical terms for the mechanical equivalent of heat. He also was the first person to describe the vital chemical process now referred to as oxidation as the primary source of energy for any living creature. Since he was not taken seriously at the time, his achievements were overlooked and his well-deserved credit was given to James Joule. Mayer almost committed suicide after he discovered this fact. He spent some time in mental institutions to recover from this and the loss of some of his children. Several of his papers were published due to the advanced nature of the physics and chemistry. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1859 by the philosophical faculty at the University of Tubingen. His overlooked work was revived in 1862 by fellow physicist John Tyndall in a lecture at the London Royal Institution. In July of 1867, Mayer published "Die Mechanik der Warme." This publication dealt with the mechanics of heat and its motion. In November of 1867, Mayer was awarded personal nobility (von Mayer) which is the German equivalent of a British knighthood. Julius Robert von Mayer died from tuberculosis on March 20, 1878 in Germany.

Mayer was the first person to develop the law of the conservation of energy. This is one of the most significant achievements in the history of physics because this fundamental yet necessary concept forms the backbone of modern day physics. The law of the conservation of energy basically states that it is a requirement that the total mechanical energy of a system remain constant in any isolated system of objects that interact with each other only by way of forces that are conservative. Again, Mayer did not envision relativity nor its theories, but his pioneering work helped to lay the foundation of modern physics which aided in the conception and development of relativity.

Though Julius Robert von Mayer resides in relative obscurity in the area of physics, he helped to make the creation of the theory of relativity a little easier for the physicists who followed him. He also helped to define some of the fundamental principles of physics for future generations.