A remembrance of Boltzmann, father of transport theory and statistical physics, in the first centenary of his death (Invited Conference)

GRATTON, F. T.

Aguas de San Pedro, SP, Brasil

Congreso; IX Brazilian Meeting on Plasma Physics; 2007

Sociedade Brasileira de Fisica

A short scientific biography of Ludwig Boltzmann, 1844-1906, universally recognized as one of the most influential physicist of the XIX century, is presented. He is considered as a founding father of transport theory, with the celebrated Boltzmann's equation of gases, extended by later generations to ionized gases. His statistical explanation of the second law of thermodynamics is justly famous, and the equation S = k logW  that establishes a link between entropy S and probability W has been carved on his tombstone. Boltzmann's view of statistical physics is still at the center of the debate over the foundations of the discipline in our time.