Luwig Boltzmann - Physics, Music, Philosophy and Death

Ludwig Edward Boltzmann was born on February 20, 1844 in Vienna's Landstrasse district, beginning his studies in physics at the University of Vienna in 1863 and receiving a doctorate in 1866. At the age of 25, Boltzmann became professor of mathematical physics at the University. studied in Graz and then returned to Vienna University in 1873. In 1876, Boltzmann took Henriette von Aigentler, a beautiful woman with long hair and blue eyes from Graz. During the 14 days of happiness in Graz, Boltzmann developed his ideas about nature's concept of statistics.

In 1885, Boltzmann became a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and in 1877 was the Principal of Graz University. Boltzmann was also invited to head the University of Munich's Theoretical Physics Department in 1890. After returning to Vienna University in 1894, Boltzmann found it difficult to find a good group of friends and colleagues in Munich. Because he refused to be with Ernst Mach (1838-1916), especially after Mach became professor of philosophy and history of science at the University of Vienna in 1895, he decided to go to Leipzig and teach theoretical physics at there. After Mach retired, Boltzmann returned to Vienna in the fall of 1902.

In addition to physics, Boltzmann also began teaching philosophy in 1903. As a head of the Department of Natural Philosophy, he taught a series of lectures entitled " Methods and Universal Theory of Science Nature "takes the place of Mach's previous series of lectures called " History and Theory of Inductive Science " . At that time, Boltzmann lectures on natural philosophy were very popular and attracted great attention. Even the first lecture had great success. Although the largest hall was used for the lecture, the attendees still filled the aisles and stairs. Students, assistants, professors and ladies also came. All newspapers reported on this event. Emperor Franz Joseph told Boltzmann that he was very happy about Boltzmann's return.

Protection of atomic theory

In the late nineteenth century, Boltzmann was the greatest man to protect atomic theory. At that time, many scientists considered atoms and molecules just metaphors - a useful fiction used to explain mathematical phenomena. But Boltzmann believes that Maxwell's statistical equations describe a real world of molecules and atoms. He studied the gases and their properties. He knew that the amount of compressed air would be explained if it was made up of a lot of very small entities. Boltzmann could not see the atoms but he could measure their properties.

Luwig Boltzmann (1844-1906)
(Photo: mooni.fccj.org)

His method is based on statistics and measurement, which led him to " kinetic theory " of gas - an important foundation of thermodynamics. Boltzmann pointed out that the motion of molecules and atoms produces heat. He also found the law of velocity distribution of gas molecules. Boltzmann's discoveries formed the basis of statistical physics, but at his time very few people recognized their importance.

North bridge for modern physics

Boltzmann was a classical physicist, but he had a great influence on the formation of modern physics. His theory of gas kinetics was a first prototype of statistical mechanics with important applications to this day. Boltzmann equations are key ideas for unbalanced thermodynamics and reversible processes. They have become very important issues of modern physics as well as a great concern of philosophy. Boltzmann also has great merits in building and defending the second law of thermodynamics, developing the entropy definition from a pure statistical standpoint and overthrowing the cosmic thermal perspective. Max Planck wrote: "Of all the physicists of that time, Boltzmann was the one who understood the meaning of deep entropy."

In fact, apart from Planck, there is one person who initially proposed the idea of ​​quantum theory, Boltzmann. In Boltzmann's work in 1872 (28 years before Planck), he first divided the energy of a system into very small interruptions. However, he was only aware of this "quantization" as a mathematical trick that allowed the use of equations in probability calculations. Quantum of energy no longer appears in the last equations, but one thing is certain: Boltzmann has paved the way for quantum theory.

Anti-Schopenhauer

In a lecture given to the Vienna Philosophical Society on January 21, 1905, Boltzmann criticized all of Schopenhauer's philosophies. He wrote: "The whole Schopenhauer system has no complete analysis but just fleeting thoughts about a topic." In fact Boltzmann tried to show that the problem with Schopenhauer philosophy was that the metaphysical foundation of his thinking led to his deviation as well as all his beliefs. . One notable point is that Boltzmann spoke about the contradiction in Schopenhauer's definition of space and time. He emphasized Schopenhauer's carelessness in using "a priori ". Boltzmann has denied Schopenhauer's "a priori " that space can only be three-dimensional by asserting that a space with more than three dimensions is fully understandable, even that space may be non-Euclidean. .

Boltzmann also showed in detail Schopenhauer's pointless attempt to apply his hypothesis to various arts. He explained that even Schopenhauer's classification of different arts does not imply any possible art. Schopenhauer considers music as such a direct performance of will that it is no longer the object. On the contrary, all other arts also perform wills but only indirectly and are regarded as a distinctive form of music.

The separation between Schopenhauer music and other arts thus comes from a lack of realism, resulting in funny consequences as well as serious conflicts. According to Schopenhauer, music is a mirror that reflects the whole world, and the world is a manifestation of the cosmic will and other music, obtained in other ways and independent of the sound. original music. Thus, music can continue to exist if the world does not exist. It means that even in the absence of a violin, no air of sound, no ears or no cognitive sounds, the music still exists!

A human being of science, art and beauty

Music and art play an important role in Boltzmann's life. He is an excellent pianist and has studied music with the famous symphony composer of the late 19th century. Boltzmann once pointed out that, the work of Schopenhauer - art classification to read out Their rules are just a perverted, silly and ridiculous game.

Boltzmann's admiration for art and beauty can be seen through what he wrote: "Once I laughed loudly when I read that a painter had spent many days and nights looking for a single color. sharp, but now I do not laugh about it anymore, I cried when I saw the color of the sea, I did not understand why I cried for just one color, it was the moonlight, or the broadcast If there is something worth admiring more than the beauty of nature, then it is human art . The greatest wonder of nature it is the thinking of mankind! "

Boltzmann was an excellent educator and treated his students very well. A famous student of his, Lise Meitner wrote: "He has a pure, pure soul and a kind heart. His relationship with students is very human. He often plays The piano for us to listen to and this talented pianist also told us about his life stories. "

Boltzmann still had good relations with his opponents, although he had many bitter conflicts with them about philosophical and scientific views. Boltzmann and Wilhelm Ostwald (1853-1932) were often opposed to each other in philosophy and science but personally, they were still good friends. For example, Boltzmann went to Leipzig for an invitation from Ostwald. Boltzmann was very upset with Mach's thought, even leaving his beloved Vienna city in 1900 because of Mach's existence. But in fact, these two people are still very polite and respect each other. In fact, one of the important reasons why Boltzmann criticized Schopenhauer was because Schopenhauer had used impolite words against other philosophers. Boltzmann said that for a great scholar, he cannot use those words.

But Boltzmann's friend often sees him like a child, innocent, naive and holy. Ostwald once called Boltzmann a "stranger in this world." The reason why people call him a good child is because he protects and follows unconditional traditions and conventions, that is, approaching problems in science and life in an open way. . His achievements proved that even in everyday life he was well aware of his purpose, but his actions were often unusual compared to others. For example, it was said that, after buying a cow for a house in the suburbs, he went to ask a friend of his, a zoologist professor to advise him on how to get milk.

Boltzmann's ability to work is truly amazing. He has been a professor of mathematics, mathematical physics, theoretical physics and experimental physics. He has lectures on many fields such as mechanics, thermal theory, elasticity, mathematical theory for acoustics, capillaries, computational methods, differential and integral calculus, number theory, and special topics. specialization in advanced calculus, analytic geometry, function theory, analytic mechanics, gas theory, electromagnetic and magnetic theory, thermodynamics and principles in natural philosophy.

The famous theoretical physicist HA Lorentz admired Boltzmann and wrote about him as follows: "You are a wise physicist, your words have brought you closer to our hearts . At Here, he shared with us the joys and concerns, he guided us through the logical science of Nature. "

" Spiritual energy " and God

In a philosophical debate, Boltzmann analyzed the types of physical energy and mental energy. He said that it is impossible to consider these two forms of energy in the same world."In natural science, energy is a measurable quantity for appropriate units and always maintains its value so that if it eliminates in this place, it will have the same amount. So if you want to build a concept of mental energy equivalent to physical energy, you have to prove that mental energy is measured in units like physical energy and its quantity is born, the exact amount of physical energy equal to that amount must be lost, however, proving this assertion cannot be done because it is completely wrong. The mental statue and the physical processes of the brain produce the possibility that all energy is d constant maintenance in its physical form within the brain mass, all mental processes are only secondary phenomena and are probably just a second picture of physical processes. From another perspective, that is certainly not containing any new kind of physical energy. "

According to Boltzmann, it is not right to disseminate so-called mental energy theory in physical science."Physical energy and what I call mental energy are two completely different things, called by the same name because there is a superficial analogy. I think it's wrong when people say that. do not distinguish the concepts of energy theory in mechanics and chemistry with mental phenomena such as fun and the like ".

Boltzmann's philosophy is considered real materialism (realism-materialis m). He wrote: "Certainly, only a madman denies the existence of God. But this is the same as the case, all our ideas about God are just imitations. People (anthropomorphism) are not based on mainstream scientific methodology, so in that way, the things we imagine about God will not exist.If a person believes that God exists and another person does not Believing God exists, maybe both of them think the same thoughts without even doubting it. We must not ask whether God exists or not unless we can imagine anything. that is when we say that, instead, we have to ask that, by our thoughts so we can get closer to the highest concept that can cover everything. "

Death

In the last few years of his life, Boltzmann's health deteriorated. He was often involved in his exhausting quarrels. His eyesight was so impaired that he had to hire someone to read the scientific articles to him. His wife also had to write works to help him. In addition to asthma still tormenting every night, he also has a severe headache because of too much work. However, Boltzmann never focused on health, sacrificing it for his hard work.

Luwig Boltzmann, one of the greatest minds of all peoples and all ages, committed suicide on September 5, 1906. Many famous scientists of that time attended his funeral with respect and mourn. Boltzmann's death was even more sad because he had once said that he did not want to die because death would prevent him from seeing the rapid development of science . Boltzmann is buried in the central cemetery of Vienna. On his stone grave, there is an entropy equation of S = k log W. This equation is Boltzmann's greatest scientific achievement. It has been and will be imprinted on stone through dust for centuries and become one of the most valuable and classic equations in the history of science.

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