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Best known for his work in chemical thermodynamics, Pierre Duham also contributed to hydrodynamics and to the theory of elasticity. A lesser-known French physicist, historian, and philosopher of science, Duhem “championed “energetics,” holding generalized thermodynamics as foundational for physical theory, that is, thinking that all of chemistry and physics, including mechanics, electricity, and magnetism, should be derivable from thermodynamic first principles” (Ariew, 2020).
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Although he was too young to fight, the Franco-Prussian War, or Franco-German War, was a conflict between the French Empire and the North German Confederation that deeply affected Duhem's family. The soldiers of the war brought about the diphtheria epidemic that swept through France, who's casualties included Pierre's younger sister and infant brother in 1872.
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Duhem's first school of study was in Paris, where ...
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Duham excelled during his attendance of one of the so-called Grand Schools in France, Ecole Normale Supérieure, ranking first in his class in the Science Section.
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While attending Ecole Normale Supérieure, Duhem constructed his thesis on thermodynamic potential, which was presented to the board for his doctorate in physics. Duhem's thesis which “he defined the criterion for chemical reactions in terms of free energy” (Sack, 2019), was "rejected by a panel composed of three scholars: the physicist Gabriel Lippmann and the mathematicians Charles Hermite and Emile Picard" (Ariew, 2020).
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It was rumored that the panel seemed to have decided on the fate of the thesis before it was even presented, as the “prestigious French scientific publisher, Hermann, published a version of the thesis the following year” (Ariew, 2020). He was criticized for going against French chemist Marcellin Berthelot’s work decades earlier, yet Duhem went on to publish the rejected thesis two years later.
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Received his doctorate in applied mathematics on the theory of magnetization, titled Sur l’aimantation par influence, which was accepted during its initial presentation.
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Published in the journal Revue des Questions Scientifiques, 31: 391–454
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Published in the journal Revue des Questions Scientifiques, 31: 139–177
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Published in the journal Revue des Questions Scientifiques, 34: 345–78
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Published in the journal Revue des Questions Scientifiques, 34: 55–83
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Published in the journal Revue des deux mondes, 129: 869–901, 130: 379–415 and 851–68.
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Published in the journal Revue des questions scientifiques (2nd series), 40: 463–99
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published
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Duhem’s history of chemical combination published in book-form./ had jumped from Aristotle’s concept of mixtio to modern concepts.
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published
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“Physical Theory, Its Aim and Structure”
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pierre-Maurice-Marie-Duhem -
Studies on Leonardo da Vinci. published a series of essays uncovering de Vinci’s medieval sources and their influences on modern concepts.
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This series of works eventually comprehended 10 volumes; but only five were completed by the time of his death. Le système du monde, histoire des doctrines cosmologiques de Platon à Copernic, 10 vols, Paris: Hermann.