history
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From steam to entropy: Creating a thermodynamics tour through Europe (and Yale)
I need your input on this. A friend of mine asked, “Bob, how about creating a European tour featuring the different locations where the founders of thermodynamics worked, including opportunities to taste the local beers?” I responded, “Great idea!” So what would that tour look like? Here’s a very rough outline based on chronological sequencing:… Continue reading
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Reading Clausius – no easy feat
“The establishment of thermodynamics during the middle years of the nineteenth century – one of the great creative epochs of science – was so rapid and extensive that a whole new branch of knowledge was suddenly created, where previously there had been the old science of heat plus the substantially empirical technology of heat-engines.” –… Continue reading
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Deciphering the physical meaning of Gibbs’s maximum work equation
I am very pleased that Foundations of Chemistry supported publication of my paper (link below followed by abstract) that concluded with a question rather than a conclusion! As I am in search of the answer, please let me know if you know someone, likely a physical chemist, who has it. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10698-024-09503-3 Abstract J. Willard Gibbs… Continue reading
Block by Block – The Historical and Theoretical Foundations of Thermodynamics. “Hanlon has written a masterpiece.” – Mike Pauken, Senior Engineer, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and author of Thermodynamics for Dummies
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About Me
Hi! I’m Bob Hanlon. After earning my Sc.D. in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and enjoying a long career in both industry and academia, I’ve returned to school, my own self-guided school, seeking to better understand the world of thermodynamics. Please join me on my journey.
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