In thermodynamics, Ludwig August Colding (1815-1888), Ludvig (in Danish), was a Danish Civil Engineer noted for his 1843 principle of the imperishability of forces, an early variation of the law of conservation of energy. A short 1922 Nature biography excerpt defines Colding as such: [1]

“In 1843 he wrote his ‘Theses Concerning Moving Forces’, a paper which entitles him to a place among the founders of thermodynamics.”

In 1853, Colding worked with Danish chemist Julius Thomsen, notable for his theories in thermo-chemistry, to show that cholera can spread through drinking water. [2]

Cessation thermodynamics

See main: Cessation thermodynamics, Religious thermodynamics

Colding seemed to have arrived at his principle of the conservation of force owing to his conviction in assumed continuity between the movement of life and death in the construct of the theory of the imperishability of the human soul. In short, similar to other thermodynamics founders, Colding was stimulated into theorizing owing to his religious convictions. In his own words: [3]

“[In] my first thought concerning the imperishability of the forces of nature, I have borrowed from the view that the forces of nature must be related to the spiritual in nature, to the eternal reason as well as to the human soul. Thus it was the religious philosophy of life that led me to the concept of the imperishability of forces. By this line of reasoning I became convinced that just as it is true that the human soul is immortal, so it must also surely be a general law of nature that the forces of nature are imperishable.”

Thus, Colding reasoned that if, according to religious philosophy, the soul of a person is immortal, then so to there must correspond a natural force constituent of the soul so to quantify this effect.

References
1. Lockyer, Norman. (1922). “March 21, 1888. Ludwig August Colding died” (pg. 361), Nature, Vol. 190. Jan-Jun.
2. Ludvig August Colding (Danish → English) – PolyTech Institute, Copenhagen.
3. Colding, L.A. (1856). “Scientific Reflections on the Relationship between Intellectual Life’s Activity and the General Forces of Nature” (pg. 155). In: Review of the Transactions of the Society; In: Dahl, P.F. (1981). "Colding, Ludwig August" in Gillespie, C.C. (ed.) (1981). Dictionary of Scientific Biography (Supplement I ed.). New York: Charles Screibner's Sons. pp.84–87.

Further reading
● Colding, Ludwig A. and Dahl, Per F. (translator). (1972). Ludwig Colding and the Conservation of Energy Principle. Johnson Reprint.

External links
● Ludwig A. Colding – Wikipedia.