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Ludwig Boltzmann arguably played the key role in establishing that submicroscopic structures underlie the ordinary world. He had a tremendous impact on late 19th-century and early 20th-century physics, and he anticipated many contemporary ideas, including Kuhn's theory of scientific revolutions and recent theories of knowledge based on Darwinian principles. This book is the first accessible biography of this important figure. Without relying on equations, it provides a deep look at the full range of his scientific and philosophical ideas, discussing both their original context and their relevance today. The book also gives a concise portrait of Boltzmann's life, which, despite his successes, ended tragically in suicide. Drawing on recent research related to some of Boltzmann's more controversial ideas, this book offers fascinating insights into the birth of modern physics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

poorly written
I purchased this book with the intent of learning something significant about Boltzmann's personal life, about the context in which he made his discoveries.I found the prose to be cumbersome and the structure of the chapters to be poorly thought out.

the author repeatedly falls into the trap of including too much information, while failing to succinctly capture the big idea - which remains obscured.while the book is technically adept, it adds little to the overall presentation, as the mathematics is wrapped with poorly edited and badly structured prose.the technical portions of the text are then insufficient to serve as a complete technical explanation on boltzmann's ideas while distracting from the point of the biography.

with so much great writing out there it is hard to justify time and money spent on a book so poorly written.

Great for Physical Chemists
Why are you here? Why are you looking for a biography about Boltzmann? If you are looking for a strong science biography with a lot of mathematical detail, then you'll want this book. The book is not just a historical biography but a mathematical one. For this purpose I would have given it 5 stars.

However, I was looking for a biography in the same category as Lindley's "Degrees Kelvin" (William Thomson aka Lord Kelvin) or Mahon's "The Man Who Changed Everything" (James Clerk Maxwell). While much of the math is placed into appendices, chapters 4, 5, and 6 will be difficult for the typical science history reader. The first three chapters were wonderful and detailed the life of Ludwig Boltzmann. Before this book he was simply the guy who's name was attached to a constant (which is why I want to read more about him!).

The back cover praise is extremely misleading-

"...accessible to all..."

"Much of the book will be interesting to the general reader."

"I can warmly recommend the book to everybody who is interested in the history of science."

Umm... no. If the second paragraph of my review is what you are looking for then I would suggest you try Lindley's "Boltzmann's Atom". While I have yet to read it, I did read his book about William Thomson/Lord Kelvin, "Degrees Kelvin", and really enjoyed it.

A Life in a Time Just Before Great Changes
In the last half of the 1800's there was a lot of ferment in the world of physics. The basic descriptions of how the world worked was put together by Newton was being challenged by new discoveries such as the Michelson-Morley experiment that proved Newton's wave theory of light was incorrect, or at best incomplete. Other experiments were identifying other problems. This was a time when the world of physics was about to undergo massive changes, but of course that was still in the future.

Ludwig Boltzmann was working during this time. He was formulating theories that explained some of these problems. Some of his work was later to become part of the underlying basis for Einstein's famous papers of 1905. There were unfortunately a number of physicists in this same category. They provided a basis for Einstein but never quite had the spark of understanding that carried it to the next step.

During his time Boltzmann was ahead of many of his contemporaries, many of whom disputed his theories. Time has shown that his work on atomic theory were fundamentally correct but only as a first step. Atoms, matter, and energy are now viewed as being much more complex than his first theories.

As the author points out in his closing paragraph, there are indications now that we are headed for a 'great change' in theoretical physics as something new comes to explain some of the problems identified in quantum mechanics. But, of course, that's predicting the future.

A stimulating biography of a great scientist
Cercignani provides a stimulating biography of a great scientist. Boltzmann's greatness is difficult to state, but the fact that the author is still actively engaged in research into some of the finer, as yetunresolved issues provoked by Boltzmann's work is a measure of just how farahead of his time Boltzmann was. It is also tragic to read of Boltzmann'spersecution by his contemporaries, the energeticists, who regarded atoms asa convenient hypothesis, but not as having a definite existence. Boltzmannfelt that atoms were real and this motivated much of his research. HowBoltzmann would have laughed if he could have seen present-day scanningtunnelling microscopy images, which resolve the atomic structure atsurfaces! If only all scientists would learn from Boltzmann's life storythat it is bad for science to persecute someone whose views you do notshare but cannot disprove. One surprising fact I learned from this book washow research into thermodynamics and statistical mechanics led to thebeginnings of quantum theory (such as Planck's distribution law, andEinstein's theory of specific heat). Lecture notes by Boltzmann also seemto have influenced Einstein's construction of special relativity.Cercignani's familiarity with Boltzmann's work at the research level willprobably set this above other biographies of Boltzmann for a very long timeto come. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Magnificent work by grand master!
I must say I'm a beginner in statistical mechanics but I believe Boltzmann is really worth reading because he was one of the creators of statistical mechanics. One can learn a lot by reading the works of masters. His book isof course old fashioned 19th century book and his notations are not thekind of thing you can love, but I found his book readable and enjoyable.Boltzmann works out every theorem rigorously and explains every singlepoints in detail. It might exhaust you but at the end you can see thepicture. I definitely recommend Boltzmann to everyone.P.S I alsorecommend Ehrenfest's book as companion of Boltzmann. ... Read more

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In 1900 many eminent scientists did not believe atoms existed, yet within just a few years the atomic century launched into history with an astonishing string of breakthroughs in physics that began with Albert Einstein and continues to this day. Before this explosive growth into the modern age took place, an all-but-forgotten genius strove for forty years to win acceptance for the atomic theory of matter and an altogether new way of doing physics. Ludwig Boltz-mann battled with philosophers, the scientific establishment, and his own potent demons. His victory led the way to the greatest scientific achievements of the twentieth century.

Now acclaimed science writer David Lindley portrays the dramatic story of Boltzmann and his embrace of the atom, while providing a window on the civilized world that gave birth to our scientific era. Boltzmann emerges as an endearingly quixotic character, passionately inspired by Beethoven, who muddled through the practical matters of life in a European gilded age. Boltzmann's story reaches from fin de siècle Vienna, across Germany and Britain, to America. As the Habsburg Empire was crumbling, Germany's intellectual might was growing; Edinburgh in Scotland was one of the most intellectually fertile places on earth; and, in America, brilliant independent minds were beginning to draw on the best ideas of the bureaucratized old world.

Boltzmann's nemesis in the field of theoretical physics at home in Austria was Ernst Mach, noted today in the term Mach I, the speed of sound. Mach believed physics should address only that which could be directly observed. How could we know that frisky atoms jiggling about corresponded to heat if we couldn't see them? Why should we bother with theories that only told us what would probably happen, rather than making an absolute prediction? Mach and Boltzmann both believed in the power of science, but their approaches to physics could not have been more opposed. Boltzmann sought to explain the real world, and cast aside any philosophical criteria. Mach, along with many nineteenth-century scientists, wanted to construct an empirical edifice of absolute truths that obeyed strict philosophical rules. Boltzmann did not get on well with authority in any form, and he did his best work at arm's length from it. When at the end of his career he engaged with the philosophical authorities in the Viennese academy, the results were personally disastrous and tragic. Yet Boltzmann's enduring legacy lives on in the new physics and technology of our wired world.

Lindley's elegant telling of this tale combines the detailed breadth of the best history, the beauty of theoretical physics, and the psychological insight belonging to the finest of novels.Amazon.com Review
Born in Austria and something of a bumpkin by nature, the 19th-centuryphysicist Ludwig Boltzmann did not fit in easily in the highly culturedGerman universities at which he taught for many years. To add to hisdifficulties, Boltzmann stirred up controversy by proposing that scientists could make intelligent guesses about the behavior of atoms, which, though theymoved randomly, could be described by certain probabilisticgeneralizations. His suggestion, hinging on novel interpretations ofstatistical theory, was not immediately acclaimed. "To an audience ofphysicists raised in the belief that scientific laws ought to encapsulateabsolute certainties and unerring rules," writes scientist and journalistDavid Lindley, "these were profound and disturbing changes."

Opposed by the then-influential physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach, whourged that scientists stick to classical thermodynamics, Boltzmann was hard-pressed to convince his colleagues that the behavior of atoms could be explained by laws thought to apply only to the gaming table. Mach objected, and with some cause, that "the fact that the theory worked was not enough to prove that the assumptions on which the theory rested were true." It would take the next generation of scientists, among them Albert Einstein, to provide more solid proof for Boltzmann's hunches. And, while Mach's contributions to physics have largely been superseded, Boltzmann's endure in quantum mechanics and the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution for the velocities of atoms in a gas. In this lively account, David Lindley tells the story of Boltzmann's many failures, and of his eventual success. --Gregory McNamee ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

S = k log W
This is what is etched on his tombstone, his death a suicide. This was the statement that catapulted Boltzmann onto the Pantheon of Science. It confirmed that the abstract, heretoforeunsubstantiated notion of entropy was due to the enormous number of `states' that a gas molecule can possibly exist in, and conveniently proportional to his constant k, previously derived from the Ideal Gas Law.
This is a tale (many claimed worthy of Shakespeare) of the clash among major figures of science and philosophy, as well as cultural prejudices in 19th century Europe.There are conflicts between real vs. abstract; absolute vs. probabilistic; observable vs. unseen; conservative vs. progressive; austere (Berlin) vs. bohemian (Vienna); emerging Prussia and superior Brits vs. declining Austria.
The existence of atoms had been postulated since Democritus, thousands of years ago. Dalton et al suspected it in their investigations of `equal proportions' in chemical reactions. But when Boltzmann insisted on its reality, he was widely ridiculed. He was already a high standing citizen of physics with his collaboration with Clausius on Kinetic theory (leading to the 1st Law of Thermodynamic) and with Maxwell on the distribution theorem of molecular motion. But many took these theories as conceptual views, and not physical reality. Boltzmann's insistence on the reality of atoms (and thus molecules) was met with skeptism, if not outright ridicule by hostile eminent luminaries such as Mach, Ostwald, Kelvin, Helmholtz and Kirchhoff, as well as celebrated supporters such as Clausius, Maxwell, and Stefan. With the enormous negative pressure, he hanged himself in 1906.
If he had only lived a few more years to see the undisputed fulfillment of his dream, by the next generation, led by Planck and Einstein.
If Planck is the father of Quantum Theory, then Boltzmann is the grandfather. Planck utilized Boltzmann's distribution ideas to formulate his celebrated Blackbody Solution. Einstein and Bose (for integer spin particles), along with Fermi and Dirac (for fractional spin particles) developed their quantum distributions modeled after the Maxwell- Boltzmann original. In addition, Einstein's explanation of Brownian Motion was based on Boltzmann's ideas.
Boltzmann was the first to champion probability and statistics into science, and no one has doubted him since his death. For Mr. Lindley, another great contribution to popular scientific literature. Although I need to point out that there a few chronologically inconsistent, and repetitious, but not altogether unconstructive anecdotes.

Difficult man, difficult ideas
In David Lindley's elegant little biography of Ludwig Boltzmann, one of the less-famed (at least in English-speaking lands) creators of modern physics gets due attention.

Although no one scientist develops a revolutionary theory entirely on his own, Boltzmann's profound inquiries were most important in three fields: atomic theory, thermodynamics and quantum theory. His name is attached to two important equations, the Maxwell-Boltzmann equation and the Stefan-Boltzmann relation, and his formula for entropy (S = k log W) is as elegant and far-reaching as Einstein's more famous pithy statement. In answering questions about those things, he was the prime mover toward realizing that a statistical understanding of the material world must supplant the classical view that there are absolute truths.

"He had devoted the bulk of his intellectual life to a single question -- how does the behavior of atoms explain why hot things always cool down?"

Boltzmann was a difficult man, a bumpkin who (perhaps) lost a coveted job at Berlin because he used the wrong spoon at dinner with Frau von Helmholtz.

It used to be said that only three people in the world understood Einstein's general theory of relativity. Perhaps even fewer understood what Boltzmann was up to. Lindley suggests that even James Clerk Maxwell didn't quite get it. Even Boltzmann wavered a bit during his long career.

There were plenty of lesser physicists who were baffled, and more than a few, led by Ernst Mach, who were active enemies of Boltzmann and his kinetic theory. All this happened recently. Boltzmann died in 1906.

For 40 years Boltzmann had worked on kinetic theory of heat, which in his conception required atoms. Only within months of his death (by hanging) did Einstein produce a theory that converted the doubters to the actual existence of "hard, massy particles," as Newton had imagined must exist.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire plays a prominent role in all this. Not only was Boltzmann an employee of the state for most of his life, the fact that he got a chance was due not only to his own stubborn capacity but, according to Lindley, to a government policy of giving opportunity to young men (very rarely, women) of talent from humble backgrounds.

If we accept this, this was ironic, since the Austrian government was generally reckoned among the most conservative in Europe (and one could certainly argue that Lindley is stretching things to include the church in the core of liberalizing influences during the key period of Austria's modernization).

We are reminded that the modern segment of the Habsburg domain was tiny. Almost all the subjects of Franz Josef were illiterate workers on the land. The modern class was so small that Boltzmann was taught piano by Bruckner and treated for neurasthenia by Kraft-Ebbing.

Boltzmann was not merely an oaf socially. As a scientist he was willing to be crude to get results. Today, theoretical physicists (among whom Boltzmann was almost the first) like to say that elegance in theories is a virtue. Boltzmann did not think so. He told his students, "Elegance is for the tailor and the shoemaker."

He got away with this, according to Lindley (a physicist himself), because he was one of those men who has a feeling for how the bits of nature interact. He was able to mathematize that at a level that very few physicists, at any time, have been able to.

In the philosophical debates with Mach (which Lindley thinks were a waste of Boltzmann's time), he never lost sight of the materiality of the world, although Mach -- who wouldn't accept the existence of anything he couldn't see, and thus refused to believe in atoms -- did not grasp this.

Both men were out to drive mysticism out of physics. Mach reimported it through the backdoor. Even Maxwell did (with his demon). Boltzmann never did. He was always a pure materialist.

That makes his understanding of the statistical nature of material reality even more remarkable.

Boltzmann's was a life full of irony, lived in a place full of ironies. Not the least for him was that by the time Planck and Einstein devised the conceptions that made Boltzmann's difficult theories slot into a wider, more readily comprehensible framework, he was so distracted and sick that he hardly paid attention.

The harrowing fight for Boltzmann's atom
Lindley states upfront that this book is not a proper biography. There is not much on Boltzmann's early life, and the account of his adult family life is very sketchy. Actually, I found this an advantage as I was most interested in the development of Boltzmann's physics and how Boltzmann related to other famous figures. Lindley is very good on this, showing exactly what Boltzmann's contributions were and how figures like Gibbs and Maxwell inspired him and were inspired by him. The accounts of his philosophical battle with Mach for the soul of physics were particularly intriguing - a battle that ended in Boltzmann's suicide. Mach had won the battle, but not the war. Einstein and others later came down on Boltzmann's side.

Of course Mach can't really be blamed for Boltzmann's suicide. Boltzmann comes across as a depressive, neurotic character. He could not relax, was forever traveling, and incessantly pursued social and academic advancement. When given the leading post at the University of Vienna he sought posts at German universities, but then didn't want to leave Vienna when he got them. This 'having his cake and eating it' situation left him distraught, torn between two great opportunities. Also, he became upset when followers of Mach did not admire him, even though his own followers held him in the greatest esteem.

It is surprising how much physics Lindley manages to convey without using equations. Differences between his ideas and others are conveyed with subtlety. For instance the difference between using a distribution of velocities and the earlier idea of just using average velocities for working out the statistical mechanics of gasses is brought across with verve. (Read the book if you don't know what I'm going on about!)

Lindley makes impressive use of original sources. You will find material in this book nowhere else in English as he translates many letters and works from the original German.

All in all, a must read. There are many popular books centered on Galileo, Newton, Einstein and Heisenberg. It is interesting to read a book where these giants hardly figure, and instead Boltzmann, Gibbs, Maxwell and Mach take center stage. So give yourself a novel treat and read about the harrowing fight for Boltzmann's atom.

good introduction
David Lindley succeeds in this book in what escaped him in "Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science", where the narrative lacks structure and is not sufficiently persuasive. "Boltzmann's Atom" reads as a biography proper, if a very brief one, where Lindley shows (appropriately) broader historical picture, not just in scientific and philosophical ideas of that time.

Boltzmann is shown in this book as a real human being - in development, both intellectual and emotional - and one can actually empathize with him. The book is somewhat too short for a real biography, which all run nowadays to 500 and more pages, but especially so considering the scope of Boltzman's personality, as well as very complex & rapidly changing situation in science during his lifetime. Still, the book is a very good introduction to Boltzman's life & work.

Even in this short a book, Lindley managed to outline Boltzmann's scientific & philosophical ideas, show clearly what was his conflict with Ernst Mach about, and give the reader enough understanding to see that modern physics is based to a high degree on Boltzmann's works. Lindley also succeeded in giving a persuasive picture of Boltzmann's idiosyncratic personality.

Hope David Lindley won't consider a short quote from his book to be a copyright violation: http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dhcsjrmw_192cpz88x&revision=_latest

scientists are people, too
David Lindley's book is a beautifully written and subtle portrait not only of a very important scientist, but of a place and time in scientific history. Some rather slippery scientific concepts are expertly communicated at the same time -- that Lindley manages to do all of this in the space of about 230 pages makes this book a model, in my mind, of concision and expert communication. It is a joy to read.

If anything mitigates that joy, it is the intense sadness that hangs around the titular figure, Ludwig Boltzmann. Although his work is of primary importance in physics, few laypeople are aware of him. Boltzmann died in 1906 but -- much like his fellow Viennese Gustav Mahler, who died in 1911 -- seems like a kind of presage of 20th century uncertainties and anxieties. This is probably saying too much. But there is little of the heroic and the ironic and the certain in Boltzmann, and much of the anxious, needy and depressed. He is a figure we all recognize: whether in our alcoholic uncles, our desperate mothers, or our sleepless selves. He does not and cannot rest easy.

Boltzmann was far from anyone's stereotype of the "mad" scientist. His mental illness was all too real, his struggle with inner demons all too tragic. If you are interested in science, in scientists, in the occasionally sick world of academia, or even simply in fin-de-siecle Vienna, read this book. It's extremely good. ... Read more

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This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more