The Origins of Thermodynamics

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Classical thermo dynamics from the nineteenth century was the paradigmatic a applied science. It really was almost engineering. But some thermo dynamicists thought it worth while to think about individual particles. And so we can even start to see the legacy of quantum theory in thermo dynamics. That's true, ye, men. We have no need to talk about these invisible particles that you can't even see. They sort of beat down ono thermodonamesist who wanted to think aboutindividual particles.

Randomness and probability are central to modern physics. In statistical mechanics this is because we don’t know everything about the distribution of atoms and molecules in a fluid, so we consider a probability distribution over what they might be; in quantum mechanics it’s because the theory only lets us predict measurement outcomes probabilistically. Physicist Nicole Yunger Halpern explains how we’ve been lagging behind at bringing these two theories together, and how recent progress is changing the landscape of how we think about the microworld.

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Nicole Yunger Halpern received her Ph.D. in physics from Caltech. She is currently a NIST physicist and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Physics and IPST at the University of Maryland. Her Ph.D. thesis won the international Ilya Prigogine Prize for a thermodynamics dissertation. As a postdoc she received the International Quantum Technology Emerging Researcher Award. Her new book is Quantum Steampunk: The Physics of Yesterday’s Tomorrow.

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