PART A: Preliminaries
1: Life and work: A sketch
2: Theories of heat: Some background
PART B: Exegesis
3: Constructing thermal equilibrium (1866-1871)
4: The Boltzmann equation and the H theorem (1872-1875)
5: The probabilistic turn (1876-1884)
6: The analogical turn (1884-1887)
7: Consolidation (1887-1895)
8: The critical turn (1895-1899)
9: Lectures on gas theory (1896-1898)
PART C: Synthetic Reflections
10: Boltzmann's theory
Olivier Darrigol studied physics at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, the history and philosophy of physics at the Sorbonne and at UC-Berkeley's Office for History of Science and Technology (OHST). He is the author of several books on the history of quantum physics, electrodynamics, hydrodynamics, and optics. He is currently a member of the SPHere research team at CNRS/Paris 7, and a Research Associate at UC-Berkeley's OHST.
The text is well written, clear and supported by black-and-white
figures and historical footnotes. This book can be fully
recommended to anyone with some background in mathematics and
physics who is interested in the course of the discussion that led
to modern statistical mechanics. It is also a good read for those
interested in Boltzmann as a scientist and those who have a more
general interest in the science of the period.
*Manuel Vogel, Contemporary Physics*
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