Sadi Carnot
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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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The birth of thermo-dynamics!
In the years after 1850 a developed, established science with extensive theoretical structures and satisfactory experimental verification had to be re-established on a new basis; that of the axiom of the conservation of energy. This was the first time in history that such a thing had happened. It pre-dates the famous re-establishments that followed the… Continue reading
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Why was the science of heat conduction so difficult to comprehend?
[Thomson] existed as scientist and technologist, academic and entrepreneur, a philosopher and a practical man rolled into one… [He] had been described in his lifetime as Britain’s and perhaps the world’s greatest scientist. – David Lindley [1] Thermodynamics developed rapidly in the early 1850s due largely to the rapid back-and-forth progress achieved between Rudolf Clausius… 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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