A Brief Guide to the Great Equations (16 page)

Son of Lazare, a quiet engineer who inherits from his father an apartment and an interest in reducing inefficiency in heat engines. Writes the most seminal work on the subject,
Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat
, which his brother Hippolyte edits. It contains the notion of conservation, reversibility, and the famous ‘Carnot cycle.’ But the book is ignored, Carnot stops publishing, catches scarlet fever, brain fever, cholera, and dies, age 36, in a madhouse.

Rudolf Clausius (1822–1888)

German physicist who settles the battle between the conversionists and the conservationists by declaring that
two
principles are in play, one involving the
conservation
of what is soon called energy in exchanges of heat and mechanical work, the other the
conversion
of heat into energy. Coins the word ‘entropy,’ which he refers to as
S
, and is another claimant as discoverer of the second law.

Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894)

German physicist who masters and contributes to an astounding variety of fields, including acoustics, aesthetics, anatomy, biology, magnetism, mathematics, mechanics, meteorology, ophthalmology, optics, phenomenology, philosophy, physics, physiology, and psychology. Invents the ophthalmoscope for examining the inner eye. Mentors many scientific stars, including Nobel Prize winners Albert Michelson, Max Planck, and Wilhelm Wien.

James Prescott Joule (1818–1889)

As a youth, James builds a home science lab in his parents’ brewery. A few years later, he manages highly accurate measurements of various conversions of heat and electrical, mechanical, and chemical energy into one another. He’s the first to measure the mechanical equivalent of heat. His work promotes the idea of the conversion of energy, and sets off a battle between proponents of conversion and of conservation.

James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879)

An improbable prodigy taunted by cruel classmates who nickname him ‘Dafty’ for his plain clothes, country accent, and candid questions. Establishes the field of electromagnetism via one of the most brilliant uses of analogy in history, and lays the groundwork for the electronic age. Explains, among other things, the rings of Saturn, the behaviour of gases, and the nature of spinning tops, constructing ‘the fanciest top ever made.’ Dies at age 48.

Robert Mayer (1814–1878)

While a doctor on a boat in the East Indies, notices the unusual redness of his crew’s blood, meaning it is oxygen-rich. Deduces that human metabolism is slower in the tropics and that mechanical work and heat are interchangeable. His unintelligible paper on the subject is rejected by a journal, though he later revises and publishes it. Depressed by rejection of his claim to the second law, he flings himself from a third-floor window and is sent to an asylum in a straitjacket.

Max Planck (1858–1947)

Undeterred by his professor’s warning that everything in physics has been discovered already, while focusing on neatening up the old – tidying up thermodynamics – he invents the quantum and changes the world! His eldest son dies in World War I at Verdun; his second eldest is hanged in World War II for joining the plot to kill Hitler. Wins the Nobel Prize in 1919. A world-famous research organization is named for him. So is a 43-kilometer-long asteroid.

Count Rumford (1753–1814)

British soldier of fortune, amateur scientist, and spy, who conducts experiments on heat in between courtships of wealthy widows. Refutes the ‘caloric’ theory of heat proposed by the former husband of his latest conquest. Proclaims that heat is not a substance but comes from motion generated by friction, and uses this idea to quantitatively compare different kinds of work. Thinks he’s another Newton.

William Thomson (1824–1907)

A polymathic, trilingual, and farsighted son of a mathematics professor, the future Lord Kelvin. He’s torn by the conflict between the conversionists and the conservationists, and is determined to make peace. Developer of the new science of heat-mechanics, which he names
thermodynamics
. Co-author of thermodynamics’
Principia
, the
Treatise on Natural Philosophy
, and one of several claimants as discoverer of the second law.

Wilhelm Wien (1864–1928)

A farmer at heart, takes on physics as a second career. Authors Wien’s law, which uses the second law of thermodynamics to map radiation’s dependence on temperature, thereby leading us ‘to the very gates of quantum physics.’ Discovers a positively charged particle which, when further explored by others, becomes the proton. Wins the Nobel Prize in 1911. A crater on Mars, 120 kilometers in diameter, is named after him.

My thoughts on this subject are even more radical. I think that the second law of thermodynamics is actually Shakespearean. Its story involves powerful and finely drawn characters. It has fundamental implications for human life. And it unfolded in somewhat the way Shakespearean dramas do.

Here’s a plot summary of how one version might go.

A new mechanics is on the horizon. The steam engine and other technologies have drawn attention to phenomena relating to heat. Driven by practical necessity and curiosity, legions of inventors are attempting to develop better steam engines. But their work is mostly tinkering, because as yet little is known about heat. Heat seems to be a force – we can put it to work! – but not one whose operations are explained by Newtonian pushes and pulls. A theory of heat is clearly needed, and a crude one, called ‘caloric theory’, appears. Developed in the second half of the eighteenth century by French scientist Antoine Lavoisier – the ‘father of modern chemistry’ – caloric theory conceives of heat as an invisible and weightless fluid that flows from place to place, which provides the beginning point for understanding heat as a force. Several scientists, whose motives range from curiosity and professional duty to pride and ambition, turn their attention to this heat-force. They are soon embroiled in a conflict about whether utilizing this heat-force involves conservation or conversion
of heat: is the total amount of heat always the same, or does it get converted to something else? The resolution of this conflict will turn out to be the key to the new mechanics.