States of matter

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

… of all the geniuses who did not go insane, but this post is too short to contain it. I will, however, not miss the opportunity to re-quote the first line of Goodstein's States of Matter , IMHO the most hilarious line in physics-education history: Ludwig Boltzmann, who spend much of his life studying statistical mechanics, died in 1906 by his own hand. Paul Ehrenfest, carrying on his work, died similarly in 1933. Now it is our turn to study statistical mechanics. Fortunately, most of us survived stat mech. Finally, while one can obviously dispute the cause of Turing's death, and claim that it might have had something to do with his "genius", it might also have had something to do with the public humiliation, the removal of his security clearance (and thereby, effectively, his career in cryptography), and the disfiguring hormonal treatment…