"Every hypothesis must derive indubitable results from mechanically well-defined assumptions by mathematically correct methods. If the results agree with a large series of facts, we must be content, even if the true nature of facts is not revealed in every respect. No one hypothesis has hitherto attained this last end, the Theory of Gases not excepted."
Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann 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, , where Ω is the number of microstates whose energy equals the system's energy, interpreted as a measure of the statistica
"I pointed out in the second part of my paper... that my Minimum Theorem, as well as the so-called , are only theorems of probability. The Second Law can never be proved mathematically by means of the equations of dynamics alone."
Ludwig Boltzmann"I propose to answer two questions:— (1) Is the Theory of Gases a true physical theory as valuable as any other physical theory? (2) What can we demand from any physical theory?"
Ludwig Boltzmann"The first question I answer in the affirmative, but the second belongs not so much to ordinary physics (let us call it orthophysics) as to... metaphysics."
Ludwig Boltzmann"But this theory agrees in so many respects with the facts, that we can hardly doubt that in es certain entities, the number and size of which can roughly be determined, fly about pell-mell. Can it be seriously expected that they will behave exactly as aggregates of Newtonian centres of force, or as the rigid bodies of our Mechanics? And how awkward is the human mind in divining the nature of things, when forsaken by the analogy of what we see and touch directly?"
Ludwig Boltzmann"The following assumptions, while not professing to explain the mysteries... nevertheless show that it is possible to explain the spectra of gases while ascribing 5 degrees of freedom to the molecules, and without departing from Boscovichs standpoint."
Ludwig Boltzmann"For a long time the celebrated theory of Boscovich was the ideal of physicists. According to his theory, bodies as well as the ether are aggregates of material points, acting together with forces, which are simple functions of their distances."
Ludwig Boltzmann