Ludwig Boltzmann

Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann ( BAWLTS-mahn or BOHLTS-muhn; German: [ˈluːtvɪç ˈeːduaʁt ˈbɔltsman]; 20 February 1844 – 5 September 1906) was an Austrian mathematician and theoretical physicist. His greatest achievements were the development of statistical mechanics and the statistical explanation of the second law of thermodynamics. In 1877, he provided the current definition of entropy,

S

=

k

B

ln

⁡

Ω

{\displaystyle S=k_{\rm {B}}\ln \Omega }

, where Ω is the number of microstates whose energy equals the system's energy, interpreted as a measure of the statistical disorder of a system. Max Planck named the constant kB the Boltzmann constant.

Statistical mechanics is one of the pillars of modern physics. It describes how macroscopic observations (such as temperature and pressure) are related to microscopic parameters that fluctuate around an average. It connects thermodynamic quantities (such as heat capacity) to microscopic behavior, whereas, in classical thermodynamics, the only available option would be to measure and tabulate such quantities for various materials.

Notable works: Boltzmann constant, Stefan-Boltzmann law, Stefan-Boltzmann constant, Boltzmann equation, Boltzmann distribution, Boltzmann's entropy formula, list of things named after Ludwig Boltzmann Awards: Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art, honorary doctorate of the University of Oslo, Honorary doctor of the University of Oxford, Foreign Member of the Royal Society, honorary member of the Physics Association (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) Education: University of Vienna

Source: Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Boltzmann