A study of Ludwig Boltzmann's oeuvre in early statistical mechanics. It is designed to reveal Boltzmann's true endeavors and to give new life to his various theoretical constructions. It offers introductory historical and biographical materials, detailed summaries and analyses of all the relevant texts.

• PART A: Preliminaries


• 1: Life and work: A sketch


• 2: Theories of heat: Some background


• PART B: Exegesis


• 3: Constructing thermal equilibrium (1866-1871)


• 4: The Boltzmann equation and the H theorem (1872-1875)


• 5: The probabilistic turn (1876-1884)


• 6: The analogical turn (1884-1887)


• 7: Consolidation (1887-1895)


• 8: The critical turn (1895-1899)


• 9: Lectures on gas theory (1896-1898)


• PART C: Synthetic Reflections


• 10: Boltzmann's theory

Olivier Darrigol studied physics at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, the history and philosophy of physics at the Sorbonne and at UC-Berkeley's Office for History of Science and Technology (OHST). He is the author of several books on the history of quantum physics, electrodynamics, hydrodynamics, and optics. He is currently a member of the SPHere research team at CNRS/Paris 7, and a Research Associate at UC-Berkeley's OHST.