58 STATISTICAL PHYSICS
1902-4. The three studies on the foundations of statistical mechanics. The
first paper deals with the definitions of temperature and entropy for thermal equi-
librium conditions and with the equipartition theorem [E10], the second one with
irreversibility [Ell], the third one with fluctuations and new ways to determine
the magnitude of the Boltzmann constant [El2]. Einstein published a brief com-
ment on these papers in 1911 [E2].
March 1905. Introduction of the light-quantum hypothesis with the help of
an argument based on Boltzmann statistics [El3]. The first correct application of
equipartition to radiation.
April 1905. Completion of the PhD thesis on a new determination of molec-
ular dimensions [El4]. A correction to this paper was published in 1911 [E15]
and a minor comment in 1920 [E16].
1905-8. Several papers on Brownian motion. The first and most important
dates from May 1905 [El7]. A sequel in 1906 includes the discussion of rotatory
Brownian motion [El8]. A brief comment on the interpretation of mean velocity
was published in 1907 [El9] and a semipopular account of the whole subject in
1908 [E20].
- Quantum theory of specific heats of solids [E21]. With this paper, solid
state quantum theory begins.
- Voltage fluctuations in a condenser as a means of measuring Boltz-
mann's constant [E22]. Relativistic transformation of thermodynamic quantities
[E23].*
- Two papers containing details of the energy fluctuations of electromag-
netic radiation around thermal equilibrium and the first statement in history of
particle-wave duality, arrived at by the interpretation of these fluctuation for-
mulae. Discussion of the Brownian motion exhibited by a mirror moving uni-
formly through a radiation field [E24, E25].
- Statistical aspects of the motion of resonator in a radiation field [E26,
E27]; a further comment in 1915 [E28]. The theory of critical opalescence [E29J.
- Two additional comments on the specific heat paper of 1906 [E21]: an
attempt to relate the specific heat of solids to their elastic properties [E30] and an
attempt to refine his assumption, made earlier for reasons of simplicity, that lattice
vibrations can be treated as approximately monochromatic [E31].
1912-13. The thermodynamics of photochemical processes [E32, E33].
- An abortive attempt to explain anomalies in the specific heat of gases
[E34].
1916-17. Three overlapping but nonidentical papers dealing with sponta-
neous and induced radiative processes (A and B coefficients), a new derivation of
the blackbody radiation law, and the Brownian motion of a molecular gas in equi-
librium with radiation, from which the momentum properties of a light-quantum
are deduced [E35, E36, E37].
- A qualitative discussion of thermal conductivity in gases for the case
"This last topic is not yet ripe for historic assessment [LI].
