physics
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“One data point is worth one thousand opinions” – three stories
Between Galileo and Aristotle there were just a lot of guys with theories they never bothered to test – Helen Monaco’s character in Philip Kerr’s Prayer: A Novel [1] It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened… Continue reading
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The Clausius-Clapeyron equation – explained
Many years ago a colleague and close friend made the rather courageous decision to get his PhD in chemical engineering—studying nights and weekends—while continuing to work full-time. After two semesters of courses he had to take his qualifying exams. The day after his oral exam I asked him how it went. “Can you believe it?… Continue reading
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Dissemination of Gibbs’s work (Path 1): Gibbs ➔ Maxwell ➔ Pupin ➔ Helmholtz ➔ van’t Hoff ➔ community
Gibbs’ work spread throughout Europe along two separate paths. As already mentioned (here), the first started with Maxwell. It was his book that indirectly led Gibbs’s work to Helmholtz along an interesting path taken by Michael Pupin (1858-1935).[1] As a doctoral student in experimental physics at the University of Berlin under Helmholtz, Pupin was familiar… 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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