Statistical Physics and the Atomic Theory of Matter from Boyle and Newton to Landau and Onsager
Stephen G. Brush, "Statistical Physics and the Atomic Theory of Matter from Boyle and Newton to Landau and Onsager"
1983 | ISBN-10: 0691083207, 0691083258 | 368 pages | Djvu | 13 MB
1983 | ISBN-10: 0691083207, 0691083258 | 368 pages | Djvu | 13 MB
Review
This book ties it all together: from "the crumbling Aristotelian paradigm" (without a strong candidate to replace it, despite Galileo's and Descartes' best efforts) in the early 1600s, through Newton to Boltzmann and Maxwell and on to modern fluid dynamics.
Professor Brush is a physicist turned science historian, and it shows in his treatment of his subject.
Clearly written and insightful, it's difficult to put down.