Boltzmann, Ludwig Edward

Ludwig Edward Boltzmann is one of the foremost theoretical physicists of the latter nineteenth century. A vigorous advocate for the existence of atoms, he made monumental contributions to the kinelic theory of gases and established the statistical nature of the second law of thermodynamics. 

Symbol k The constant 1.380 54 J K i, equal to the gas constant (R) divided by the Avogadro constant (Na). The constant is named for the Austrian theoretical physicist Ludwig Edward Boltzmann (1844— 1906). See also degrees of freedom. 

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