Johann Loschmidt

Johann Loschmidt was an Austrian scientist known for his contributions to statistical thermodynamics in the 19th century. He is best remembered for Loschmidt's paradox, which questions how irreversible processes, like mixing or diffusion, can emerge from the time-reversible laws of physics. Essentially, he highlighted a contradiction in understanding how disorder increases over time while the fundamental particles follow deterministic rules. Loschmidt's work laid the groundwork for later developments in understanding entropy and the behavior of systems at a molecular level, bridging microscopic physics with macroscopic observable phenomena.