Abstract
We trace the development of the technical ideas showing that the Second Law of Thermodynamics became, over a Century ago, a general principle of reasoning, applicable to scientific inference in other fields than thermodynamics. Both the logic and the procedure of our present maximum entropy applications are easily recognized in the methods for predicting equilibrium conditions introduced by Gibbs in 1875. Chemical thermodynamics has been based on them ever since. What is new in this field is not the method, but the recognition of its generality.
The opening talk at the EMBO Workshop on Maximum-Entropy Methods in x-ray crystallographic and biological macromolecule structure detennination. Orsay, France, April 24–28, 1984.
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References
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© 1988 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Jaynes, E.T. (1988). The Evolution of Carnot’s Principle. In: Erickson, G.J., Smith, C.R. (eds) Maximum-Entropy and Bayesian Methods in Science and Engineering. Fundamental Theories of Physics, vol 31-32. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3049-0_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3049-0_15
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