In hmolscience, Eugene Pleasants Odum (1917-2002) was an American zoologist noted, in ecological thermodynamics, for his 1953 Fundamentals of Ecology, wherein he incorporated first law and second law models and ideas.
Overview
In 1953, Odum, in his textbook Fundamentals of Ecology, was the first to incorporate the first two laws of thermodynamics into ecology. [1]
Odum worked on his textbook in partial collaboration with his brother Howard Odum and through their joint writings the Odum’s introduced a number of non-rigorous thermodynamic conjectures, such as emergy, embodied energy, the maximum power principle, energese (energy systems language), among others. [2]
Students
American chemical engineering professor Robert Ulanowicz states that he was inspired to switch careers, from chemical engineering to ecology, and to study theoretical ecology during a reading of American zoologist Eugene Odum’s Fundamentals of Ecology (1959 second edition). [2] Specifically, in 1970, after teaching chemical engineering for two years at the Catholic University of America, Ulanowicz switched careers and became a professor of theoretical ecology at the University of Maryland’s Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, where he is currently professor emeritus. Ulanowicz won the 2007 Prigogine medal for his efforts in ecolology.
References
1. Odum, Eugene P. (1953). Fundamentals of Ecology (pgs. 43-45). Saunders.
2. Mansson, B.A. and McGlade, J.M. (1993). “Ecology, Thermodynamics, and Odum’s Conjectures” (Abs), Oecologia, 93, pgs. 582-96.
External links
● Eugene Odum – Wikipedia.
● Odum, Eugene Pleasants – Encyclopedia of Earth.
