2 But already he had done important work on thermal equilibrium which helped generalize Maxwell's distribution law. Indeed, there is part of a letter by James Clerk Maxwell to Loschmidt from this period which runs: "I am very pleased over the outstanding work of your student; in England experi mental physics is much neglected. Sir William Thomson has done the most in this connection, but you [in Austria] are ahead of us with your good example. "2 But while praise was fine, Boltzmann lusted after further travel. He wanted to know what other physicists were doing first hand. In 1870 he attended lectures by Bunsen and Konigsberger in Heid elberg, and in the same year went to Berlin only to scurry back to Vienna with the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, but Boltzmann was back in Berlin the next year attending lectures, visiting laboratories, and working on dielectricity more or less under the direction of Kirchhhoff and Helmholtz.

Klappentext

This book gives the first detailed record of Ludwig Boltzmann's life and philosophical thoughts during his final years, a period of major change in physics, needing a new methodology of theoretical, idealized science. The growing primacy of physical theory over observation and experimentation meant that Boltzmann needed a methodology which went beyond Ernst Mach's phenomenalism and theory of economy. The documentary approach of this book means that historians, philosophers, and physicists can use it as a source and foundation for better understanding the development of quantum and relativity theory, the new advances in methodology, and as an aid in improving or creating their own contributions to methodology and philosophy of science. Seeds of future linguistic philosophy are also present.

Inhalt
Analytical Table of Contents.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Preliminary Quotations.- 3. Call to Leipzig.- 4. Back to Vienna.- 5. Philosophy Lectures.- 6. Brentano and California.- 7. El Dorado & Anecdotes.- 8. Final Months & Aftermath.- Appendix A (Boltzmann's Battalion).- Appendix B (Beethoven in Heaven) A Choral Jest by Ludwig Boltzmann.- I Collections.- II Obituaries of Boltzmann 19061908.- III Articles and Books.- Name Index.