Related papers: On Boltzmann's genius and thermodynamics
The aim of this article is twofold. First, we shall review and analyse the Neo-Kantian justification for the application of probabilistic concepts in physics that was defended by Hans Reichenbach early in his career, notably in his…
It has been shown that the criticism of Pauli as well as of Susskind and Glogover may be avoided if the standard quantum-mechanical mathematical model has been suitably extended. There is not more any reason for Einstein's citicism, either,…
The applicability of stochastic differential equations to thermodynamics is considered and a new form, different from the classical Ito and Stratonovich forms, is introduced. It is shown that the new presentation is more appropriate for the…
It is probably not a coincidence that two of the pioneers of thermodynamics, Helmholtz and Mayer, were physicians. Thermodynamics studies the transformations of energy, and such transformations ceaselessly take place in all living systems…
We illustrate Archimedes' method using models produced with 3D printers. This approach allowed us to create physical proofs of results known to Archimedes and illustrate ideas of a mathematician who is known both for his for his mechanical…
In this article we pay tribute to Herbert Dingle for his early call to re-assess special relativity from philosophical and logical perspectives. However, we disagree with Dingle about a number of issues particularly his failure to…
On the occasion of the celebration of the first half-century of Yang--Mills theories, I am contributing a personal recollection of how the subject, in its early times, confronted physical reality, that is, its "phenomenology". There is…
On the occasion of the birth centenary of the discovery of electron, I discuss its role in the area of Elementary Particle Physics. I emphasize that the discovery of electron marks the end of the speculation era lasting more than 2500…
Talk given by one of us (A. Zee) at Murray Gell-Mann's 80th Birthday Celebration held in Singapore, February 2010. Based on R. A. Porto and A. Zee, Class. Quant. Grav. 27, 065006 (2010) [arXiv:0910.3716 [hep-th]]
This paper is devoted to Poincar\'e's work in probability. Though the subject does not represent a large part of the mathematician's achievements, it provides significant insight into the evolution of Poincar\'e's thought on several…
I present my recollections of what I used to find to be "one or two small points in thermodynamics", following Sommerfeld's famous quote, and review them on the light of present knowledge.
The article is an historical overview of some of the major contributions from different areas of Science with which, for centuries, it has been built up a scientific, sound and consistent vision of the atom. Some experiments that led us to…
This review devoted to the centenary of Alexander Friedmann's prediction of the Universe expansion presents the results obtained by him in 1922 and 1924 and the sketch of their further developments. Special attention is paid to the role of…
Superfluidity is a remarkable manifestation of quantum mechanics at the macroscopic level. This article describes the history of its discovery, which took place at a particularly difficult period of the twentieth century. A special emphasis…
These expository notes propose to follow, across fields, some aspects of the concept of entropy. Starting from the work of Boltzmann in the kinetic theory of gases, various universes are visited, including Markov processes and their…
Among the geniuses of mankind, Einstein was probably one of those who made more erroneous claims, and often changed his opinion during the years on important scientific subjects. However, it is important to bear in mind that his mistakes…
Some modern cosmological models predict the appearance of Boltzmann Brains: observers who randomly fluctuate out of a thermal bath rather than naturally evolving from a low-entropy Big Bang. A theory in which most observers are of the…
Eugene Wigner famously argued for the "unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics" for describing physics and other natural sciences in his 1960 essay. That essay has now led to some 55 years of (sometimes anguished) soul searching ---…
The objective of this paper is not simply to present an historical overview of Einstein's cosmological considerations, but to discuss the central role they played in shaping the paradigm of relativistic cosmology. This, we'll show, was a…
We consider the relation between the Boltzmann temperature and the Lagrange multipliers associated with energy average in the nonextensive thermostatistics. In Tsallis' canonical ensemble, the Boltzmann temperature depends on energy through…