Boltzmann

Ludwig Boltzmann

Born: 20 Feb 1844 in Vienna, Austria
Died: 5 Oct 1906 in Duino (near Trieste), Italy

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Ludwig Boltzmann was awarded a doctorate from Vienna in 1866. After this he became an assistant to his teacher Josef Stefan. He taught at Graz, moved to Heidelberg and then to Berlin. In these places he studied under Bunsen, Kirchhoff and Helmholtz. He held chairs of mathematics and physics at Vienna, Graz, Munich and Leipzig.

Boltzmann worked on statistical mechanics using probability to describe how the properties of atoms determine the properties of matter. In particular his work relates to the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

Boltzmann also obtained the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, namely the average energy of motion of an atom is the same for each direction. He was one of the first to recognise the importance of Maxwell's electromagnetic theory.

His work was opposed by many European scientists, they misunderstood his ideas, not fully grasping the statistical nature of his reasoning, and Boltzmann, depressed and in bad health, committed suicide just before experiment verified his work.

References elsewhere in this archive:

Tell me about Boltzmann's work on quantum theory and his part in the history of mathematics

References:

  1. Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  2. Biography in Encyclopaedia Britannica
  3. E Broda, Ludwig Boltzmann: Mensch, Physiker, Philosoph (Berlin, 1955).
  4. D Flamm, Ludwig Boltzmann and his influence on science, Stud. Hist. Philos. Sci. 14 (1983), 255-278.
  5. Boltzmann, Ludwig, 1844-1906, Physics today 45 (1992), 44-51.
  6. J Blackmore (ed.), Ludwig Boltzmann : his later life and philosophy, 1900-1906 (Dordrecht, 1995).
  7. E Broda and L Gray, Ludwig Boltzmann : man, physicist, philospher (Woodbridge, 1983).
  8. C Jungnickel and R McCormmach, Intellectual Mastery of Nature, 2 Volumes (Chicago, 1986). 
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