Voting Station

Josiah Willard Gibbs

Please vote to return to collections.

Scientist

The Resume

    (February 11, 1839-April 28, 1903)
    Born in New Haven, Connecticut
    Professor of Mathematical Physics at Yale (1871-1903)
    Applied the laws of thermodynamics to chemistry
    With James Clerk Maxwell and Ludwig Boltzmann, created statistical mechanics
    Developed vector calculus
    Namesake for Gibbs free energy, Gibbs entropy, Gibbs paradox, Gibbs isotherm, Gibbs phenomenon, Gibbs-Helmholtz equation, Gibbs-Duhem equation and Gibbs-Thomson effect

Why he might be annoying:

    He was described by a biographer as 'dry and colorless.'
    He published his first scientific paper at the unusually advanced age of 34.
    He ignored a suggestion by British chemist Lord Rayleigh that he expand his papers into a treatise on thermodynamics to make his ideas more accessible.
    Rayleigh described Gibbs' papers as 'too condensed and too difficult for most -- I might say all -- readers.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He earned the first PhD in engineering in the US (1863).
    He suffered astigmatism and usually ground his own lenses for his glasses.
    He worked without pay until 1880, when Johns Hopkins University tried to lure him away with an offer of $3,000 per year, prompting Yale to give him an annual salary of $2,000.
    Norbert Weiner said his development of statistical mechanics was 'the first great revolution of twentieth century physics.'
    Albert Einstein called him 'the greatest mind in American history.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 16 Votes: 43.75% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying