Further Developments Transformation to Quantitative Science

The pioneering works of Sadi Camot, Clapeyron, James Prescott Joule, Clausius, Lord Kelvin, and Max Planck laid the foundation of the science of thermodynamics. Inspired by the works of their predecessors, James Clerk Maxwell, Josiah Willard Gibbs, Ludwig Boltzmann, and others continued advanced research contributing to evolution of thermodynamics to its modern form. 

James Clerk Maxwell first conceived the statistical basis of the second law of thermodynamics in 1871, and he is considered the founder of statistical thermodynamics. He was also famous for his electromagnetic wave theory and kinetic theory of gases. Maxwell derived the Maxwell Relations which were mathematical formulations used for advanced study of thermodynamics. Ludwig Boltzmann continued with Maxwell s kinetic theory of gases and arrived at important conclusions regarding dissipation of energy and increase in entropy. 

---