Why the Kelvin–Helmholtz timescale is not really their timescale

We review the works of Helmholtz and Kelvin and their timescale and show that it is not what is called in classical text books the Kelvin–Helmholtz time scale. Next we review the work of Ritter and show that he was the first to calculate what is erroneously attributed today to Kelvin and Helmholtz. We conclude that the correct name is the Ritter–Kelvin–Helmholtz timescale.