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The Kinetic Theory of Gases
edited by Nancy S. Hall. London: Imperial College Press, 2003. 660 pp. See publisher's PDF flyer (386 kb) For current prices and ordering information go to World Scientific.
To order through Amazon.com and see a preview of the book, go to Amazon Page for Book and Preview To see more ordering options, go to Google Books This book introduces physics students and teachers to the historical development of the kinetic theory of gases, by providing a collection of the most important contributions by Clausius, Maxwell and Boltzmann, with introductory surveys explaining their significance. In addition, extracts from the works of Boyle, Newton, Mayer, Joule, Helmholtz, Kelvin and others show the historical context of ideas about gases, energy and irreversibility. In addition to five thematic essays connecting the classical kinetic theory with 20th century topics such as indeterminism and interatomic forces, there is an extensive international bibliography of historical commentaries on kinetic theory, thermodynamics, etc. published in the past four decades. The book will be useful to historians of science who need primary and secondary sources to be conveniently available for their own research and interpretation, along with the bibliography which makes it easier to learn what other historians have already done on this subject.
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