Physics
People & venues
The thermodynamics of information was built by a small cast of remarkable thinkers, from the founders of classical thermodynamics to the architects of its information-theoretic reformulation. These are the figures whose work runs through this programme.
Rolf Landauer →
Formulated Landauer's principle and championed the idea that information is physical.
physicist · IBM · thermodynamics of information
Charles H. Bennett →
Proved the logical reversibility of computation and exorcised Maxwell's demon; 2025 Turing Award.
physicist · IBM · reversible computation
Ludwig Boltzmann →
Founder of statistical mechanics; S = k ln W, the H-theorem and the Loschmidt debate.
physicist · statistical mechanics
James Clerk Maxwell →
Conceived Maxwell's demon and laid the foundations of the kinetic theory of gases.
physicist · kinetic theory
Christopher Jarzynski →
Derived the Jarzynski equality, connecting non-equilibrium work to equilibrium free energy.
physicist · fluctuation theorems
Gavin E. Crooks →
Derived the Crooks fluctuation theorem relating forward and time-reversed trajectories.
physicist · fluctuation theorems
Sadi Carnot →
Devised the reversible Carnot cycle and is regarded as the father of thermodynamics.
physicist · classical thermodynamics
Rudolf Clausius →
Coined the term "entropy" and gave the second law one of its enduring formulations.
physicist · classical thermodynamics