gutenberg_org,
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American mathematical physicist J. Willard Gibbs died in 1903.

Gibbs' most celebrated contributions were in the field of thermodynamics, particularly concerning the phase rule, chemical potential, and Gibbs free energy—a concept named after him. The Gibbs free energy is particularly critical in predicting the direction of chemical reactions and phase changes. His book, "Elementary Principles in Statistical Mechanics," laid the foundation for modern statistical mechanics.

Maxwell's sketch of the lines of constant temperature and pressure, made in preparation for his construction of a solid model based on Gibbs's definition of a thermodynamic surface for water (see Maxwell's thermodynamic surface) James Clerk Maxwell (1831 – 1879) - P. M. Harman (ed.), The Scientific Letters and Papers of James Clerk Maxwell, vol. 3, 1874-1879, (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002), p. 232, plate IV. J. C. Maxwell's sketch of the thermodynamic surface for a water-like substance, based on a theoretical construct proposed by J. W. Gibbs. The curves are "isothermals and isopiestics drawn by help of the Sun."

katchwreck,
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@gutenberg_org he's also the one who first reduced Maxwell's equations from 30 down to the 4 that are typically considered the modern form

gutenberg_org,
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"One of the principal objects of theoretical research is to find the point of view from which the subject appears in the greatest simplicity."

From Gibbs's letter accepting the Rumford Medal (1881). Quoted in A. L. Mackay, Dictionary of Scientific Quotations (London, 1994).

~Josiah Willard Gibbs (February 11 1839 – April 28 1903)

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