In thermodynamics, radiation thermodynamics is the study of the interaction of electromagnetic energy with physical systems. The subject originated in the study of black bodies and cavity radiation (see: black body radiation). Developers of this subject include Gustav Kirchhoff, Wilhelm Wien, Josef Stefan (Boltzmann’s mentor), John Strutt, James Jeans, Heinrich Hertz, Philipp Lenard, Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Arthur Compton, Arthur Eddington, Karl Schwarzschild, among others. [1]
References
1. Müller, Ingo. (2007). A History of Thermodynamics: the Doctrine of Energy and Entropy (ch. 7: Radiation Thermodynamics, pgs. 197-232). New York: Springer.
Further reading
● Nigam, Amar N. (1997). “Planck’s Radiation Thermodynamics and its Consequences: Laue’s thermodynamics of Interference”, Current Science, 73(10): 885-91.
