The Tragic Fate of Physicist Paul Ehrenfest (Synopsis) [Starts With A Bang]

When you think of thermodynamics, and how energy, temperature, heat and entropy are all related in a system full of particles so numerous you could never hope to count them all in a thousand lifetimes, there are only a few names that stand out as titans in the field.

Paul Ehrenfest, Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Boltzmann and Ehrenfest are perhaps two of the best-known, and while Boltzmann’s tragedy is well known, Ehrenfest’s story is perhaps even more heartbreaking, and has an even sadder ending.

Paul Ehrenfest, his son Paul Jr. and Albert Einstein, Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Paul Halpern has this sobering story that’s very little-known, and even less talked about, despite its importance.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1CRvyNK

When you think of thermodynamics, and how energy, temperature, heat and entropy are all related in a system full of particles so numerous you could never hope to count them all in a thousand lifetimes, there are only a few names that stand out as titans in the field.

Paul Ehrenfest, Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Boltzmann and Ehrenfest are perhaps two of the best-known, and while Boltzmann’s tragedy is well known, Ehrenfest’s story is perhaps even more heartbreaking, and has an even sadder ending.

Paul Ehrenfest, his son Paul Jr. and Albert Einstein, Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Paul Halpern has this sobering story that’s very little-known, and even less talked about, despite its importance.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1CRvyNK