A Philosopher-Scientist Applies Thermodynamics to Life Processes

A Philosopher-Scientist Applies Thermodynamics to Life Processes 

Prigogine attacked the daunting problem of irreversible processes and non-equihbrium thermodynamics, especially s) tems in states far from equilibrium, starting in 1945. With wry humor, he dubbed classical thermodynamics thermostatics and apphed his non-equihbrium thermodynamics to problems of biological organization and even to broader societal and philosophical questions. In 1977 Ilya Prigogine received the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his applications of thermodynamics to irreversible processes. 

Short-Lived Free Radicals in the Laboratory and in Interstellar Space 

When excited by light or electricity, isolated gas-phase atoms emit sharp line spectra (see chapter 1) because their quantized electronic levels are 

In 1941, astronomer Walter S. Adams (1876-1956) discovered another new chemical species in interstellar space. Herzberg generated the same species in the laboratory by burning methane. Comparison of experiment and theory confirmed that it was CH. In 1942, Herzberg investigated a set of emission bands observed earlier in a comet (comet 1940c) and centered 

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