- 1620 - Francis Bacon reviews a wide range of observations about heat and related phenomena, and suggests that Heat is related to Motion (''Novum Organum'', Book II, XI)
- 1669 - J.J. Becher puts forward a theory of Combustion involving ''combustible earth'' ( Latin ''terra pinguis'').
- 1676 - 1689 - Gottfried Leibniz develops the concept of ''vis viva'', a limited version of the Conservation Of Energy
- 1694 - 1734 - Georg Ernst Stahl names Becher's combustible earth as Phlogiston and develops the theory
- 1738 - Daniel Bernoulli publishes ''Hydrodynamics'', initiating the Kinetic Theory
- 1761 - Joseph Black discovers that Ice absorbs Heat without changing its Temperature when melting
- 1702 - Guillaume Amontons introduces the concept of Absolute Zero , based on observations of Gas es
- 1772 - Black's student Daniel Rutherford discovers Nitrogen , which he calls ''phlogisticated air'', and together they explain the results in terms of the phlogiston theory
- 1776 - John Smeaton publishes a paper on Experiment s related to Power , Work , Momentum , and Kinetic Energy , supporting the conservation of energy
- 1777 - Carl Wilhelm Scheele distinguishes Heat Transfer by Thermal Radiation from that by Convection and Conduction
- 1783 - Antoine Lavoisier discovers Oxygen and develops an explanation for combustion; in his book ''Reflexions sur le phlogistique'', he deprecates the phlogiston theory and proposes a Caloric Theory
- 1791 - Pierre Prévost shows that all bodies radiate heat, no matter how hot or cold they are
- 1798 - Count Rumford ( Benjamin Thompson ) performs measurements of the Friction al heat generated in Boring Cannon s and develops the idea that heat is a form of Kinetic Energy ; his measurements refute caloric theory, but are imprecise enough to leave room for doubt
- 1804 - Sir John Leslie observes that a matte black surface radiates heat more effectively than a polished surface, suggesting the importance of Black Body Radiation
- 1805 - William Hyde Wollaston defends the conservation of energy in ''On the Force of Percussion''
- 1808 - John Dalton defends caloric theory in ''A New System of Chemistry'' and describes how it combines with matter, especially Gas es; he proposes that the Heat Capacity of gases varies inversely with Atomic Weight
- 1810 - Sir John Leslie Freeze s Water to ice artificially
- 1813 - Peter Ewart supports the idea of the conservation of energy in his paper ''On the measure of moving force''; the paper strongly influences Dalton and his pupil, James Joule
- 1819 - Pierre Louis Dulong and Alexis Thérèse Petit give the Dulong-Petit Law for the Specific Heat Capacity of a Crystal
- 1820 - John Herapath develops some ideas in the kinetic theory of gases but mistakenly associates temperature with Molecular Momentum rather than Kinetic Energy ; his work receives little attention other than from Joule
- 1822 - Joseph Fourier formally introduces the use of Dimension s for physical quantities in his ''Theorie Analytique de la Chaleur''
- 1822 - Marc Séguin writes to John Herschel supporting the conservation of energy and kinetic theory
- 1824 - Sadi Carnot analyzes the efficiency of Steam Engine s using caloric theory; he develops the notion of a Reversible Process and, in postulating that no such thing exists in nature, lays the foundation for the Second Law Of Thermodynamics
- 1827 - Robert Brown discovers the Brownian Motion of Pollen and dye particles in water
- 1831 - Macedonio Melloni demonstrates that black body radiation can be Reflected , Refracted , and Polarised in the same way as light
- 1834 - Émile Clapeyron popularises Carnot's work through a graphical and analytic formulation
- 1841 - Julius Robert Von Mayer , an Amateur scientist, writes a paper on the conservation of energy, but his lack of academic training leads to its rejection
- 1842 - Mayer makes a connection between work, heat, and the Human Metabolism based on his obervations of Blood made while a ship's surgeon; he calculates the Mechanical Equivalent Of Heat
- 1843 - John James Waterston fully expounds the kinetic theory of gases, but is ridiculed and ignored
- 1843 - James Joule experimentally finds the mechanical equivalent of heat
- 1847 - Hermann Von Helmholtz publishes a definitive statement of the conservation of energy, the First Law Of Thermodynamics
- 1848 - William Thomson extends the concept of absolute zero from gases to all substances
- 1849 - William John Macquorn Rankine calculates the correct relationship between Saturated Vapour Pressure and Temperature using his ''hypothesis of molecular vortices''
- 1850 - Rankine uses his ''vortex'' theory to establish accurate relationships between the temperature, Pressure , and Density of gases, and expressions for the Latent Heat of Evaporation of a Liquid ; he accurately predicts the surprising fact that the apparent Specific Heat of saturated Steam will be negative.
- 1850 - Rudolf Clausius clarifies Carnot's statement of the Second Law; and establishes the importance of ''dQ/T'', but does not yet name the quantity.
- 1852 - Joule and Thomson demonstrate that a rapidly expanding gas cools, later named the Joule-Thomson Effect
- 1854 - Helmholtz puts forward the idea of the Heat Death Of The Universe
- 1854 - Rankine introduces his ''thermodynamic function'', later identified as Entropy
- 1856 - August Krönig publishes an account of the kinetic theory of gases, probably after reading Waterston's work
- 1857 - Clausius gives a modern and compelling account of the kinetic theory of gases in his ''On the nature of motion called heat''
- 1859 - James Clerk Maxwell discovers the Distribution Law Of Molecular Velocities
- 1859 - Gustav Kirchoff shows that energy emission from a Black Body is a function of only temperature and frequency
- 1865 - Clausius introduces the modern Macroscopic concept of entropy
- 1867 - Maxwell asks whether Maxwell's Demon could reverse irreversible processes
- 1870 - Clausius proves the scalar Virial Theorem
- 1872 - Ludwig Boltzmann states the Boltzmann Equation for the temporal development of Distribution Function s in Phase Space , and publishes his H-theorem
- 1874 - Thomson formally states the Second Law Of Thermodynamics .
- 1876 - Josiah Willard Gibbs publishes the first of two papers (the second appears in 1878 ) which discuss phase equilibria, Statistical Ensemble s, the Free Energy as the driving force behind Chemical Reaction s, and Chemical Thermodynamics in general.
- 1876 - Johann Loschmidt criticises Boltzmann's H theorem as being incompatible with microscopic reversibility ( Loschmidt's Paradox ).
- 1877 - Boltzmann states the relationship between entropy and Probability .
- 1879 - Jožef Stefan observes that the total radiant flux from a blackbody is proportional to the fourth power of its temperature and states the Stefan-Boltzmann Law .
- 1884 - Boltzmann derives the Stefan-Boltzmann blackbody radiant flux law from thermodynamic considerations.
- 1888 - Henri-Louis Le Chatelier states that the response of a chemical system perturbed from equilbrium will be to counteract the perturbation.
- 1893 - Wilhelm Wien discovers the displacement law for a blackbody's maximum specific intensity.
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