PHYSICIST

Josiah Willard Gibbs

1839 - 1903

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Josiah Willard Gibbs (; February 11, 1839 – April 28, 1903) was an American scientist who made significant theoretical contributions to physics, chemistry, and mathematics. His work on the applications of thermodynamics was instrumental in transforming physical chemistry into a rigorous deductive science. Together with James Clerk Maxwell and Ludwig Boltzmann, he created statistical mechanics (a term that he coined), explaining the laws of thermodynamics as consequences of the statistical properties of ensembles of the possible states of a physical system composed of many particles. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Josiah Willard Gibbs has received more than 967,088 page views. His biography is available in 64 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 63 in 2019). Josiah Willard Gibbs is the 185th most popular physicist (down from 134th in 2019), the 671st most popular biography from United States (down from 557th in 2019) and the 25th most popular American Physicist.

Josiah Willard Gibbs is most famous for his work in thermodynamics. He was the first to create a systematic treatment of thermodynamics.

Memorability Metrics

  • 970k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 64.87

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 64

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 7.94

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.27

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among PHYSICISTS

Among physicists, Josiah Willard Gibbs ranks 185 out of 851. Before him are Alexander Prokhorov, Satyendra Nath Bose, James Rainwater, Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov, Igor Tamm, and Martinus J. G. Veltman. After him are Klaus von Klitzing, Charles H. Townes, David Bohm, Gustav Ludwig Hertz, Wolfgang Paul, and Benjamin Thompson.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1839, Josiah Willard Gibbs ranks 9. Before him are Sully Prudhomme, Modest Mussorgsky, Alfred Sisley, Charles Sanders Peirce, Carol I of Romania, and George Armstrong Custer. After him are Karl Theodor, Duke in Bavaria, Josephine Cochrane, Nikolay Przhevalsky, Emil Škoda, August Kundt, and Machado de Assis. Among people deceased in 1903, Josiah Willard Gibbs ranks 10. Before him are Theodor Mommsen, Camille Pissarro, Alois Hitler, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Sir George Stokes, 1st Baronet, and Alexander I of Serbia. After him are Otto Weininger, Hugo Wolf, Gotse Delchev, Gemma Galgani, Vasily Dokuchaev, and Calamity Jane.

Others Born in 1839

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Others Deceased in 1903

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Josiah Willard Gibbs ranks 671 out of 20,380. Before him are David Copperfield (1956), Laura Branigan (1952), Colin Powell (1937), Harper Lee (1926), Irwin Rose (1926), and Black Dahlia (1924). After him are Michael Mann (1943), Donald Knuth (1938), Charles H. Townes (1915), Ursula K. Le Guin (1929), Frances Farmer (1913), and Washington Irving (1783).

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Among PHYSICISTS In United States

Among physicists born in United States, Josiah Willard Gibbs ranks 25. Before him are Hugh Everett III (1930), Melvin Schwartz (1932), George E. Smith (1930), Rosalyn Sussman Yalow (1921), Martin Lewis Perl (1927), and James Rainwater (1917). After him are Charles H. Townes (1915), David Bohm (1992), Benjamin Thompson (1753), Robert H. Goddard (1882), Douglas Osheroff (1945), and Edward Mills Purcell (1912).

American born Physicists

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