In hmolscience, Christopher F. Edwards (c.1959-) is an American mechanical engineer and thermodynamics professor noted, in human thermodynamics, for his 2006 theory that life is a path function, the choices made being the decisive steps in the integral of the function.
Overview
In 2006, Edwards commented, in his interview article “Professor of Thermodynamics Shares Best Practices for Teaching Tough Topics”, that to help students understand entropy, i.e. to get students interested in what is notoriously a difficult subject, in thermodynamic terms, he explains how life is a path function, as follows: [1]
“Life is a path function. You begin life, you end life—that's not so interesting, right? But quality of life is a path function. It's the path that you take from the beginning to the end, the integral of that path, that's the special part.”
Edwards explains that it is the choices one makes along the path that are the important steps.
Education
Edwards completed his BS in mechanical engineering in 1981 at the University of Santa Clara and his MS (1982) and PhD (1985) in mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He worked at Sandia National Laboratory, becoming a distinguished member of the technical staff until 1995, in which year he began teaching thermodynamics at Stanford University.
References
1. Levy, Dawn. (2006). “Professor of Thermodynamics Shares Best Practices for Teaching Tough Topics.” Stanford Report, Dec 05.
External links
● Chris Edward (faculty) – School of Engineering, Stanford University.
● Edwards, Christopher F. – WorldCat Identities.
