Physics
- James Clerk Maxwell makes public the thought experiment which will become known as Maxwell's demon in the philosophy of thermal and statistical physics, in his book Theory of Heat and establishes Maxwell relations, statements of equality among the second derivatives of the thermodynamic potentials with respect to different thermodynamic variables.
- John Strutt publishes his first papers on the theory of acoustic resonance and on the phenomenon now called Rayleigh scattering, explaining why the sky is blue.
Read more about this topic: 1871 In Science
Famous quotes containing the word physics:
“The pace of science forces the pace of technique. Theoretical physics forces atomic energy on us; the successful production of the fission bomb forces upon us the manufacture of the hydrogen bomb. We do not choose our problems, we do not choose our products; we are pushed, we are forced—by what? By a system which has no purpose and goal transcending it, and which makes man its appendix.”
—Erich Fromm (1900–1980)
“Now the twitching stops. Now you are still. We are through with physiology and theology, physics begins.”
—Alfred Döblin (1878–1957)