Hermann von Helmholtz

Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (August 31, 1821 – September 8, 1894) was a German physician and physicist. In the words of the 1911 Britannica, "his life from first to last was one of devotion to science, and he must be accounted, on intellectual grounds, one of the foremost men of the 19th century".

Conservation of energy

His first important scientific achievement, an 1847 physics treatise on the conservation of energy was written in the context of his medical studies and philosophical background. He discovered the principle of conservation of energy while studying muscle metabolism. He tried to demonstrate that no energy is lost in muscle movement, motivated by the implication that there were no vital forces necessary to move a muscle. This was a rejection of the speculative tradition of Naturphilosophie which was at that time a dominant philosophical paradigm in German physiology.

Related Topics:
1847 - Physics - Conservation of energy - Muscle - Metabolism - Naturphilosophie

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Drawing on the earlier work of Sadi Carnot, Émile Clapeyron and James Prescott Joule, he postulated a relationship between mechanics, heat, light, electricity and magnetism by treating them all as manifestations of a single force (energy in modern terms{{ref|unit1}}). He published his theories in his book Über die Erhaltung der Kraft (On the Conservation of Force, 1847).

Related Topics:
Sadi Carnot - Émile Clapeyron - James Prescott Joule - Mechanics - Heat - Light - Electricity - Magnetism - Energy

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Helmholtz is thought to be the first person to put forward the idea of the heat death of the universe in 1854.

Related Topics:
Heat death of the universe - 1854

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~