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Josiah Willard Gibbs: Inroads in Thermodynamics
| Article
# : |
14441 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
6 / 1988 |
3,083 Words |
| Author
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Albert E. Moyer
Albert E. Moyer is an associate professor of the history of
science at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University
in Blacksburg, Virginia. His special interest is the
development of American physics. |
Josiah Willard Gibbs played a role in the history of science similar to that played in literature by his countryman, Henry James. Both were late nineteenth-century Americans who brought fresh perspectives to mainstream European thought: Gibbs in science and James in literature. And while both created their scientific or literary masterpieces within traditional European contexts, they crafted works so original as to have enduring impact. Today, even though James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and their descendants have redefined the English novel, Americans and Europeans alike are no less beguiled by James' The Portrait of a Lady and The Ambassadors. And though Max Planck, Albert Einstein, and Werner Heisenberg have turned physical science on its head, the international scientific community still theorizes and experiments using Gibbs' thermodynamics and statistical mechanics.
Gibbs and James, separated in age by only four years, share other biographical details as well. Both came from distinguished families in northeastern states and profited from first-rate educations at home and abroad. Neither man married, each dedicating his life to his profession. And both, through their writings, initially found their most responsive audiences in Europe.
The similarities end, however, when we ask about the popular recognition of the two men today. A century after James wrote his first major novels, we can find these works serving as the backbone of undergraduate seminars, made into movies, popularized on television, and read simply for pleasure. In contrast, we can find Gibbs' name only in advanced courses on physical science and in arcane technical texts. Who was Gibbs--this Henry James of science? And does he deserve a broader recognition for his accomplishments?
Formative Years
Gibbs was born in 1839 with a head start. On both his mother's and father's sides, he was descended from long lines of respected scholars affiliated with Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. His father, a master of Biblical languages, was a professor of sacred literature at Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut. During a period of American education when it was rare for a boy to complete even secondary school, young Gibbs not only earned a bachelor's degree at Yale but stayed on to obtain a Ph.D., one of the first granted in the United States. Indeed, he excelled in his undergraduate studies, winning school prizes in both Latin and mathematics.
Curiously, his doctorate was in
...
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