ABSTRACT

The nineteenth century saw enormous advances in physics, though not comparable, perhaps, to those made in the twentieth century. Two important and related fields were the kinetic theory of gases and thermodynamics. Though developed together, they separated late in the century and were used to create a split in physics. This split, its consequences and the people involved are the subjects of this chapter. Looking at fuzzy pictures of bearded Victorian physicists, they all seem rather similar, but they had widely different temperaments. We list some of them in chronological order.