Boltzmann, Ludwig#
b. Vienna, Feb. 20, 1844, d. Duino near Tieste (Italy), Sept. 5, 1906 (suicide), one of the most important Austrian physicists, university professor in Graz, Leipzig and Vienna. First to prove experimentally the Maxwellian electromagnetic light theory 15 years before Hertz, thus substantiating J. Stefan's law of radiation. Using the theory of probability he discovered the connection between thermodynamics and mechanics and applied the laws of statistics to gas molecules.
Works#
Vorlesungen ueber Maxwells Theorie der Elektrizitaet und des Lichts, 2 vols., 1891/1893; Vorlesungen ueber Gastheorie, 2 vols., 1896/1898; Vorlesungen ueber Prinzipien der Mechanik, 2 vols., 1897/1904; Wiss. Abhandlungen, 3 vols., 1909.Literature#
E. Broda, L. B. Mensch, Physiker, Philosoph, 1955; W. Hoeflechner, L. B., sein akademischer Werdegang in Oe., 1982; J. Blackmore (ed.), L. B., 2 vols., 1995; T. Leiber, Vom mechanistischen Weltbild zur Selbstorganisation des Lebens, 2000.