Loschmidt’s Papers “Experimental-Untersuchungen über die Diffusion von Gasen ohne Poröse Scheidewände”

Abstract

Loschmidt’s two papers on diffusion^1,2 were of great importance for the development of physics since they were closely connected with the acceptance of the atomic hypothesis. They were an essential element in the development of the new concept, and the atomic hypothesis was the key to the modern world view. So Feynman³, at the beginning of his famous lectures, puts the question: “If, in any cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generations of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words?” and he answers: “I believe it is the atomic hypothesis (or the atomic fact, or whatever you wish to call it) that all things are made of atoms — little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another. In that one sentence, you will see, there is an enormous amount of information about the world, if just a little imagination and thinking are applied.”