In thermodynamics, Athanase Dupre (1808-1869) was a French mathematician and physicist noted for having re-introduced, so to speak, the German-version of ‘thermodynamics’ into France via his circa 1860s series of papers on the mechanical theory of heat, published in the Annals of Chemistry and Physics, and his follow-up 1869 advanced textbook Theorie Mechanique de la Chaleur (Mechanical Theory of Heat). [1]
Education
Dupre graduated first in his class at the Ecole Normale Superieure in 1829 after which he began teaching mathematics and physics at the College Royal in Rennes and later chair (1847) and dean (1866) of mathematics in the faculty of science at Rennes.
Massieu
Dupre’s work in thermodynamics was said to have influenced his colleague engineer Francois Massieu who in turn began to publish papers on the thermodynamics of fluids, particularly on ‘characteristic functions’, which in turn were cited by American engineer Willard Gibbs as precursors to his ‘fundamental equations’. [2]
Universe
In the context of the implications of the first and second law on the past and future order, Dupre commented in 1866:
“In the future, the present order cannot, except for certain modifications, continue forever. In the past, it is certain that there has been a beginning.”
Dupre’s views on this topic were used as a basis of support in the religious thermodynamics arguments of French philosopher Elme Marie Caro, in the years 1864 to 1887. [3]
References
1. (a) Athanase Dupre – MacTutor Biographies.
(b) Dupre, Athanase. (1866). “Fifth Memoir on the Mechanical Theory of Heat” (experimental part in conjunction with Paul Dupre), Annales de Chimie et de Physique. Nov.
(c) Dupre, Athanase. (1869). Theorie Mechanique de la Chaleur (Mechanical Theory of Heat). Paris: Gauthier-Villars.
2. Nivoit, Edmond. (1897). “Notice of the Life and Work of Mr. Massieu, Inspector General of Mines” (French → English), Annales des Mines, 9th Series, Volume. 11.
3. Kragh, Helge S. (2008). Entropic Creation: Religious Contexts of Thermodynamics and Cosmology (Athanase Dupre, pg. 52). Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
External links
● Athanase Dupre – Wikipedia.
● Athanase Dupre (German → English) – Wikipedia.