Mathematician:Josiah Willard Gibbs
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Mathematician
American scientist who made important theoretical contributions to physics, chemistry, and mathematics.
Also well-known for his work in statistical mechanics.
One of the students of Karl Weierstrass, under whom he studied analysis in $1868$.
Much of the chemical industry of the U.S. is directly dependent upon the work he did.
Nationality
American
History
- Born: 11 February 1839 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- 1854: Entered Yale
- 1858: Graduated from Yale, continued studies at New Haven
- 1863: Obtained Ph.D. from New Haven, appointed Tutor at Yale
- 1866: Visited Europe
- 1866 -- 67: Studied at Paris
- 1867 -- 69: Studied at Berlin and Heidelberg
- 1869: Returned to New Haven
- 1871: Appointed to Professorship at Yale
- Died: 28 April 1903 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Theorems and Definitions
- Wilbraham-Gibbs Constant (independently of Henry Wilbraham)
Results named for Josiah Willard Gibbs can be found here.
Definitions of concepts named for Josiah Willard Gibbs can be found here.
Publications
- 1873: Graphical Methods in the Thermodynamics of Fluids
- 1873: A Method of Geometrical Representation of the Thermodynamic Properties of Substances by Means of Surfaces
- 1876: On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances (part 1)
- 1878: On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances (part 2)
- 1881: Elements of Vector Analysis
- 1891: Quaternions and the Ausdehnungslehre (Nature Vol. 44: pp. 79 – 82)
- 1899: Fourier Series (Nature Vol. 59: p. 200)
- 1899: Fourier Series (Nature Vol. 59: p. 606)
- 1901: Vector Analysis (with Edwin Bidwell Wilson)
- 1929: Vector Analysis, 2nd ed. (with Edwin Bidwell Wilson)
Sources
- John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Josiah Willard Gibbs": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
- 1921: C.E. Weatherburn: Elementary Vector Analysis ... (previous) ... (next): Historical Introduction
- 1992: George F. Simmons: Calculus Gems ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {A}.33$: Weierstrass ($\text {1815}$ – $\text {1897}$)
- 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Gibbs, Josiah Willard (1839-1903)
- 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Gibbs, Josiah Willard (1839-1903)