Ludwig Boltzmann. The Man Who Trusted Atoms

Abstract

Although Boltzmann belongs among the most influential scientists of the 19th and 20th centuries, when physics became the fundamental science describing nature, there does not yet exist a detailed scientific biography. The present book, on first inspection, promises to fill this gap since it covers, besides a 'short biography', the following topics pioneered by Boltzmann: the collision equation, the H-theorem, the statistical interpretation of entropy, equilibrium statistical mechanics, and the theory of polyatomic molecules. Moreover, there is an introduction on physics before Boltzmann, especially on kinetic theory, as well as chapters on his philosophy, his relation to contemporaries and his influence on early 20th-century physicists. A translation of A German professor's journey into Eldorado and several technical appendices complete the volume. In spite of this survey of important topics from Boltzmann's lifework, we hesitate to call this book a balanced biography. Not only are few original sources used to provide a more detailed portrait of the circumstances of his life, or to characterize the various stages of, and especially connections between, his many fields of work, but the selection also depends very much on the author's preferences. Thus Cercignani puts great emphasis on dealing with the collision equation and its development far into the 20th century, whereas he relies more or less on foreign analysis of the remaining topics - which are often covered in a fairly scattered way, such as the work on Maxwell's electrodynamics (which dominated Boltzmann's interest for several years). Also many of his interactions with colleagues, such as Helmholtz and Mach, are quite under-represented. On the other hand, Cercignani's book constitutes a quite serious and welcome biographical sketch on the way towards the really great biography, which this giant of science deserves.

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