Remove Argumentation Remove Primary Remove Schooling Remove Social Sciences
article thumbnail

How Did We Get Here? The Tangled History of the Second Law of Thermodynamics

Stephen Wolfram

But in 1798 Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford) (1753–1814) measured the heat produced by the mechanical process of boring a cannon, and began to make the argument that, in contradiction to the caloric theory, there was actually some kind of correspondence between mechanical energy and amount of heat.

Energy 88
article thumbnail

Remembering the Improbable Life of Ed Fredkin (1934–2023) and His World of Ideas and Stories

Stephen Wolfram

And when the train came to Los Angeles, the young Ed Fredkin decided he had to be the first person to see it : The Los Angeles Times published his account of his adventure—a younger but “quintessentially Ed” story: Ed’s record in high school was at best spotty. Richard Feynman and I would get into very fierce arguments.