Ludwig Boltzmann

The Man Who Trusted Atoms

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Other Sciences, History, Mathematics
Cover of the book Ludwig Boltzmann by Carlo Cercignani, Roger Penrose, OUP Oxford
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Carlo Cercignani, Roger Penrose ISBN: 9780191606984
Publisher: OUP Oxford Publication: January 12, 2006
Imprint: OUP Oxford Language: English
Author: Carlo Cercignani, Roger Penrose
ISBN: 9780191606984
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Publication: January 12, 2006
Imprint: OUP Oxford
Language: English

This book presents the life and personality, the scientific and philosophical work of Ludwig Boltzmann, one of the great scientists who marked the passage from 19th- to 20th-Century physics. His rich and tragic life, ending by suicide at the age of 62, is described in detail. A substantial part of the book is devoted to discussing his scientific and philosophical ideas and placing them in the context of the second half of the 19th century. The fact that Boltzmann was the man who did most to establish that there is a microscopic, atomic structure underlying macroscopic bodies is documented, as is Boltzmann's influence on modern physics, especially through the work of Planck on light quanta and of Einstein on Brownian motion. Boltzmann was the centre of a scientific upheaval, and he has been proved right on many crucial issues. He anticipated Kuhn's theory of scientific revolutions and proposed a theory of knowledge based on Darwin. His basic results, when properly understood, can also be stated as mathematical theorems. Some of these have been proved: others are still at the level of likely but unproven conjectures. The main text of this biography is written almost entirely without equations. Mathematical appendices deepen knowledge of some technical aspects of the subject.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This book presents the life and personality, the scientific and philosophical work of Ludwig Boltzmann, one of the great scientists who marked the passage from 19th- to 20th-Century physics. His rich and tragic life, ending by suicide at the age of 62, is described in detail. A substantial part of the book is devoted to discussing his scientific and philosophical ideas and placing them in the context of the second half of the 19th century. The fact that Boltzmann was the man who did most to establish that there is a microscopic, atomic structure underlying macroscopic bodies is documented, as is Boltzmann's influence on modern physics, especially through the work of Planck on light quanta and of Einstein on Brownian motion. Boltzmann was the centre of a scientific upheaval, and he has been proved right on many crucial issues. He anticipated Kuhn's theory of scientific revolutions and proposed a theory of knowledge based on Darwin. His basic results, when properly understood, can also be stated as mathematical theorems. Some of these have been proved: others are still at the level of likely but unproven conjectures. The main text of this biography is written almost entirely without equations. Mathematical appendices deepen knowledge of some technical aspects of the subject.

More books from OUP Oxford

Cover of the book The Nibelungenlied: The Lay of the Nibelungs by Carlo Cercignani, Roger Penrose
Cover of the book Charles Olson and American Modernism by Carlo Cercignani, Roger Penrose
Cover of the book Shakespeare's Women and the Fin de Siècle by Carlo Cercignani, Roger Penrose
Cover of the book The Economics of Chocolate by Carlo Cercignani, Roger Penrose
Cover of the book Historical and Biblical Israel by Carlo Cercignani, Roger Penrose
Cover of the book The Production of Knowledge by Carlo Cercignani, Roger Penrose
Cover of the book Oxford Handbook of Endocrinology and Diabetes by Carlo Cercignani, Roger Penrose
Cover of the book Asian Data Privacy Laws by Carlo Cercignani, Roger Penrose
Cover of the book Selling Sex in the Reich by Carlo Cercignani, Roger Penrose
Cover of the book Beauty Imagined by Carlo Cercignani, Roger Penrose
Cover of the book Combinatorics: Ancient & Modern by Carlo Cercignani, Roger Penrose
Cover of the book Oxford Handbook of Respiratory Medicine by Carlo Cercignani, Roger Penrose
Cover of the book The Oxford History of Anglicanism, Volume III by Carlo Cercignani, Roger Penrose
Cover of the book The Eusebian Canon Tables by Carlo Cercignani, Roger Penrose
Cover of the book Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Insolvency by Carlo Cercignani, Roger Penrose
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy