Ludwig Boltzmann: The Man Who Trusted Atoms

Boltzmann is one of the most interesting of the late nineteenth century physicists and is without doubt one of the most important. His work in kinetic theory and statistical thermodynamics laid the foundations for many of the major developments of twentieth century physics and it is a great pity that there are few English language biographies. Carlo Cercignani is Professor of Theoretical Mechanics at the Politecnico di Milano and is well equipped to describe and comment upon Boltzmann's theories - his own research includes applications of the Boltzmann equation.