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Footnotes to the history of statistical mechanics: In Boltzmann’s words

✍ Scribed by Robert H. Swendsen

Publisher
Elsevier Science
Year
2010
Tongue
English
Weight
211 KB
Volume
389
Category
Article
ISSN
0378-4371

No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.

✦ Synopsis

Although Ludwig Boltzmann was one of the primary founders of the field of statistical mechanics, very few contemporary physicists have actually read his papers. As a result, some of his ideas have been distorted or even lost over the course of time. In this paper, I will discuss some of the reasons for the neglect of Boltzmann's writings and try to reintroduce one of his most important ideas, the definition of entropy.

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