Boltzmann, Ludwig

Lead Author: Cutler J. Cleveland (other articles)
Article Topics: Energy people and Environmental chemistry
This article has been reviewed and approved by the following Topic Editor: Tom Lawrence (other articles)
Last Updated: December 1, 2008

Ludwig Boltzmann (1844-1906), an Austrian physicist famous for the invention of statistical mechanics. Boltzmann provided the framework for relating the microscopic properties of individual atoms and molecules to the macroscopic or bulk properties of materials that can be observed in every day life. Statistical mechanics also explains thermodynamic properties of bulk materials from the spectroscopic data of individual molecules. One of Boltzmann’s great insights was his finding that a macroscopic state is proportional to the logarithm of the number of microscopic states corresponding to it. He is famous for his formula for entropy (S): S = kB lnP where kB = 1.380658´10-23JK-1 (the Boltzmann constant), and P is the number of possible microscopic states which give the same thermodynamical state that a system may be in.

Further Reading
[1] Flamm, D., 1997. Ludwig Boltzmann – A Pioneer of Modern Physics. Paper presented at the XXth International Congress of History of Science, on July 25, 1997, in Liège, Belgium.

Ludwig Boltzmann Biography (University of Minnesota Morris)

Citation
Cleveland, Cutler (Lead Author); Tom Lawrence (Topic Editor). 2008. "Boltzmann, Ludwig." In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth June 16, 2006; Last revised December 1, 2008; Retrieved January 6, 2009]. <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Boltzmann,_Ludwig>
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