German educator Jürgen Mimkes lecturing, in 2005, on the thermodynamic applications in economics. [6]

In science education, human thermodynamics education refers to any course or assignment taught in high school, college, or graduate school that teaches subjects related to human thermodynamics or branches of, e.g. economic thermodynamics, or related subjects such as human chemistry. Being that "human thermodynamics" and its branches, e.g. sociological thermodynamics, are considered either a newly developing science or a science of the future, related subjects are often only given as assignments or found as a part of a course.

Overview
The first to promote the teaching of thermodynamics in educational curricula was American historian Henry Adams, who in 1910, at the age of seventy-two, wrote his A Letter To American Teachers of History, suggesting that it was paramount that the implications of the second law of thermodynamics be learned by history teachers and professors and taught as part of history class curriculum, throughout America.

In human thermodynamics, teaching applications have generally been in the fields of history, government, economics, psychology, sociology, and science. In human chemistry, teaching applications have, of recent begun to center around the nature of human bonding, from the psychological and chemical perspective. To cite one example, so strong is the belief that human bonds are inherently chemical bonds (i.e. human chemical bonds), that within the last few years, high school chemistry teachers have begun assigning Internet-based homework assignments in which students are told to use chemical bonding theories to explain the ebb and flow of conflict and collaboration of human relations in terms of manifestations of chemical bonding effects. [1]

Of the two, human chemistry and human thermodynamics, the latter is the more difficult subject and is finding a slower entrance into general education. In the 2007 book A History of Thermodynamics, German physicist Ingo Müller, a professor of thermodynamics for over 30-years, for instance, outlines his opinion that the field of human thermodynamics is a science of the future. In particular, in his section on “socio-thermodynamics”, he states that “on several occasions I have hinted at the usefulness of thermodynamic concepts in remote areas, i.e. fields that have little or nothing to do with thermodynamics as first sight.” He continues, “those hints would be wanton remarks unless I corroborated them somehow, in order to acquaint the reader with the spirit of extrapolation away from thermodynamic proper.” To be sure, he reasons,


In the current view, he points out that “they are struggling to be taken seriously, and to obtain admission into the field.” [2]

Lectures
American chemical engineer Libb Thims is scheduled to give a one-hour lecture on "An Introduction to Human Thermodynamics" to the bioengineering thermodynamics class, spring semester, at the University of Illinois at Chicago by invitation of professor Ali Mansoori. [16]

University courses
The following are outlines of prototype human thermodynamics courses that have been taught at various universities:

Dates	Teacher	Course	School
1894-1900	Léon Winiarski	Taught a course on "social mechanics", focused on economics and sociology, based on the thermodynamics of German physicist Rudolf Clausius and the dynamics of Italian mathematician Joseph Lagrange.	University of Geneva
1930s	Robert Lindsay	Taught an entropy ethics theory courses	Brown University
1980s	Dick Hammond	Promoted the teaching of "entropy ethics" and "energy education" in various schools (elementary, high school, and college)	University of Texas
1997-2006	Richard Piccard	Taught a general education course called "Entropy and Society", associated with the physics department, intermittently, based on American economist Jeremy Rifkin's 1989 book Entropy: Into the Greenhouse World, called "Entropy and Society". The course is for seniors, with focus on developing a general education student's ability to interrelate, synthesize, and integrate knowledge from different academic disciplines, and examines Rifkin’s theory that matter and energy are conserved, but that physical processes transform both into forms less readily useful (thereby "increasing entropy") according to the material entropy hypothesis. They apply this concept of entropy to human activity, critically examining works by advocates of solar and nuclear power, from the viewpoints of, and using the patterns of inquiry of, several disciplines (e.g., history, theology, economics, physics, politics, engineering, biology, chemistry, ethics, and sociology). Using Rifkin’s 1989 book Entropy: Into the Greenhouse World, which sets forth the thesis that this concept of entropy has a much broader applicability, in such fields as social science, politics, health, etc., the course explores whether this broadening of application makes sense. The immediate goal for students is to try to get some understanding of what entropy means when the term is used in its home territory, physical science and engineering. On this basis, the problem immediately arises when applying entropy to society is that the basic definition of entropy is mathematical. As such, the course focuses on the philosophical aspects (i.e. philosophical thermodynamics) rather than the practical aspects of entropy; and avoids mathematics, for the most part.	Ohio University
2008	Richard Hughes	A course on a thermodynamical interpretation of politics and world government.	California State University, Sacramento
2009	Bruce Clarke	English 4342.001: a course called "Literary and Narrative Theory", where one of the five reading material selections is American novelist Thomas Pynchon’s thermodynamic themed novel The Crying of Lot 49, in which students are assigned to critique Pynchon’s views on thermodynamic entropy and information theory entropy in relation to the plot. [14] Clarke has begun using EoHT.info as reference material for his class.	Texas Tech University

Graduate degrees
In 1969, English science historian Jeremy Adler completed his PhD thesis, at Westfield College, London, on the underlying chemists, affinity theory (affinity being a function of free energy), and specific affinity reactions in Goethe’s novella Elective Affinities; work later becoming very instrumental in American chemical engineer Libb Thims’ 2007 textbook Human Chemistry.

In 1974, American philosopher Carter Finn completed his thesis/dissertation, in philosophical thermodynamics and religious thermodynamics, on “Religion, Philosophy, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics”, at the College of William and Mary.

In 1975, American political scientist Stephen Coleman completed his PhD dissertation, at the University of Minnesota, in political thermodynamics, on Measurement and Analysis of Political Systems: a Science of Social Behavior, or on entropy measurements in social systems and with focus on voting and elections. [10] Coleman notes, however, that the focus of his degree was on the purely information theory side of fence and not necessarily a thermodynamics related agenda.

In 1978, American educator Dick Hammond did his EdD thesis, at the University of Arkansas and University of Texas, under Belgian thermodynamicist Ilya Prigogine, on Analysis of Entropy Reduction and its Implications for Ethical Instruction in Public Education. [11]

In 2005, American chemical engineer Libb Thims suggested that, in the near future, graduate students will be able to complete their PhD in human thermodynamics. [5]

In 2009, an anonymous Turkey third-year undergraduate mechanical engineer sent an email to American chemical engineer Libb Thims expressing his desire to come to America to complete a master’s degree in on a topic related to thermodynamic of human life, having been inspired by passages (shown below) in the 2006 thermodynamics textbook by Yunus Cengel and Michael Boyle who state that: [12]

“The arguments presented here are exploratory in nature, and they are hoped to initiate some interesting discussion and research that may lead into better understanding of performance in various aspects of daily life. The second law may eventually be used to determine quantitatively the most effective way to improve the quality of life and performance in daily life, as it is presently used to improve the performance of engineering systems.”

His question to Thims was which books should he read to better understand this topic with regard to entropy and human relations, to which Thims replied that he should start with Thims' 2007 textbook Human Chemistry, as it contains all known publications written on entropy and human relations. [13]

High school courses

(New Trier High School: human chemical bonds)

In 2002, at New Trier high school, in Illinois, for instance, students were asked to consider how elements and chemical species chemically bond or conflict, and to think about how these polar opposite processes of bonding and conflicting play out in life, specifically in human relationships, in the form of human chemical bonds. [1]

In this assignment, it was argued that by studying how elements interact and bond to each other, students might learn about how humans interact and bond with each other. Suggestive queries were ‘how does electrical attraction promote bonding in certain species,’ or ‘how do incongruent physical shapes between compounds can promote debonding,’ and ‘why does the famed opposites attract scenario occurs in chemistry?’, etc. One interesting suggestion was to try to determine what kind of hypothetical chemical bond Romeo and Juliet had in their high-energy relationship. Interestingly, in regards to this last question, even Shakespeare himself had ideas about human chemical bonding. In particular, Shakespeare assumed the existence of an external force that induces amorous attraction. [4]

Conferences
Over the last hundred years, discussions and lectures on the applications of thermodynamics to human life and society, often in their philosophical implications, have occurred in various science-related conferences. Since the mid-1990s, for instance, German metalurgist and solid state thermodynamicist Jürgen Mimkes has been attending various economic conferences in Europe where he lectures on the applications of thermodynamics in economics; such as the 2005 Navodari Econophysic Conference, where he lectured on the applications of thermodynamics in economics . [6]

On March 14, 2008, American chemical engineers Ted Erikson and Libb Thims attended the the annual American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) meeting at Harper College (Palatine, Illinois) where Erickson discussed Thims’ human molecule theories in lecture.

Other
In an April 29, 2006 email, Russian-born American Natalia Roubanenko commented to Libb Thims that "one day instead of (or in addition to) regular math, chemistry, physics, etc., kids in school will be learning something like one human molecule + another human molecule = ? ... it's just a crazy thought, but hey, we'll see or somebody will."

In 2007, American educator Astrida Tantillo, head of the department of Germanic studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago and author of the 2001 book Goethe’s Elective Affinities and the Critics, noted that some of her students had recently requested to do papers on German polymath Johann Goethe human chemistry theory, and referred to the fact that Thims’ 2007 Human Chemistry textbook would be useful in this respect. [9]

The HumanThermodynamics.com page is used as a “related links” page for the 2009 course BI 6101 Introductory Biology, on the study of the energy of the ecosystem, cell, and human, at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. [15]

References
1. (a) Chemistry Department. (2002). “Its all about Bonding”: How Humans, Animals, Chemicals, and Natural Forces, have Conflicted in Time, but Also Worked Together.”
(b) Research Outline Plan (PDF).
2. Muller, Ingo. (2007). A History of Thermodynamics - the Doctrine of Energy and Entropy, (section: "Socio-thermodynamics", pgs. 159-164). New York: Springer.
3. (a) Huwe, Darrell O. & Piccard, Richard D. (1997). “Notes on Entropy and Human Activity”, 22-pages, (constitutes the notes for many of the lectures).
(b) Piccard, Richard D. (2006). “Syllabus: Entropy and Human Activity”, Winter, Call No. 06449. Physics Department, Ohio University.
4. Tennov, D. (1999). Love and Limerence – the Experience of Being in Love. New York: Scarborough House.
5. FAQ #3: Where is HT headed? - Institute of Human Thermodynamics.
6. Photos of Mimkes - at the 2005 Navodari Econophysic Conference.
7. (a) Hammond, Dick K. (2005). The Human System from Entropy to Ethics, 4th ed. (eulogy ed. with commentary on post-doctorial mentor Ilya Prigogine). Publisher: Dick Hammond.
(b) Richard D. Hughes – California State University, Sacramento.
(c) A Thermodynamic View of Politics (PDF) – by Richard D. Hughes.
8. Email from Natalia Roubanenko to Libb Thims on Saturday, April 29, 2006 6:02 PM.
9. Comments to Libb Thims from Astridia Orle Tantillo, at her UIC office, on 10/15/07.
10. Coleman, Stephen. (1975). Measurement and Analysis of Political Systems: a Science of Social Behavior. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
11. Hammond, Dick E. (1978). Analysis of Entropy Reduction and its Implications for Ethical Instruction in Public Education. University of Arkansas.
12. Cengel, Yunus A. and Boles, Michael A. (2006). Thermodynamics: an Engineering Approach (ch. 4, pg. 193, ch. 7, pg. 349, ch. 8, pgs. 465-69). McGraw-Hill.
13. Messaging to Libb Thims from turnkey13 on 30 Jan 2009.
14. (a) Clark, Bruce. (2009). “Two Kinds of Entropy (class discussion material)”, Texas Tech University.
(b) English 4342.001, Spring 2009 – Literary and Narrative Theory, Texas Tech University.
15. Related links (BI 6101 Introductory Biology) – Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
16. G. Ali Mansoori (overview) – UIC.edu.