Historical Development of the Theory of Heat and Thermodynamics: Review and Some Observations

This article traces the historical development of the basic concepts in thermodynamics from the time of Galileo (1592) to the time of Planck (1900) to gain historical perspectives. The review of the theory of heat as a branch in physics and thermodynamics is based on secondary sources. Some observations are made regarding the analogous physical phenomena in conduction and convection heat transfer problems. It is pointed out that Newton's cooling problem (1701) is closely related to Graetz's thermal entrance region problem (1885), and Prandtl's boundary-layer concept (1904) can be traced to transient heat conduction problems involving semiinfinite solids. It is also noted that the heat pipe (1964) represents a limiting case of the Carnot cycle (1824) with zero power output.