Thermodynamicist

In thermodynamics, a thermodynamicist is one who studies thermodynamic processes and phenomena, i.e. the physics that deals with mechanical action and relations of heat. Among the well-known number of , include Sadi Carnot, Rudolf Clausius, Willard Gibbs, Hermann von Helmholtz, and Max Planck.

History of term

Although most consider the French physicist Sadi Carnot to be the first true thermodynamicist, the term "thermodynamics" itself wasn’t coined until 1849 by Lord Kelvin in his publication "An Account of Carnot's Theory of the Motive Power of Heat". [Kelvin, William T. (1849). "An Account of Carnot's Theory of the Motive Power of Heat - with Numerical Results Deduced from Regnault's Experiments on Steam." "Transactions of the Edinburg Royal Society, XVI. January 2." [http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-95118 Scanned Copy] ] The first thermodynamic textbook was written in 1859 by William Rankine, a civil and mechanical engineering professor at the University of Glasgow. [cite book | author=Cengel, Yunus A.; Boles, Michael A. | title=Thermodynamics - An Engineering Approach | publisher=McGraw-Hill | year=2005 | id=ISBN 0-07-310768-9]

References