Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian Physicist

Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann (February 20, 1844 - September 5, 1906) was an Austrian physicist whose greatest achievement was in the development of statistical mechanics, which explains and predicts how the properties of atoms determine the visible properties of matter. His most important scientific contributions were in kinetic theory, including the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution for molecular speeds in a gas. In addition, Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics and the Boltzmann distribution over energies remain the foundations of classical statistical mechanics. In 1906, while on a summer vacation, he hung himself during an attack of depression

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1844 Committed Distribution Gases Kinetic Mechanics Statistical Suicide Theory Thermodynamics

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