In hmolscience, Felix Auerbach (1856-1933) was a German physicist noted for his 1910 book Ectropy and the Physical Theory of Life, wherein he introduced the notion of "ectropy" as a type of biological anti-entropy. [1]
Overview
In this work, Auerbach compared the entropy of inert matter to what he called the “ectropy” of living form, linking it to the evolution and development of life. [2] Auerbach was known as an "ardent proponent of biological entropy decrease". [3] Supposedly, Auerbach had adopted the notion of ectropy, as the biological antithesis of entropy, from the 1900 work of German writer Georg Hirth. [4]
Education
Auerbach studied under German physicist Gustav Kirchhoff, at the University of Breslau, in Heidelberg, and later with German physicist Hermann Helmholtz, in Berlin, completing his doctorate in 1875 under him with a dissertation on The Nature of Vowel Sounds. In 1879, Auerbach worked at the physical institute of the University of Wroclaw as an assistant to German physicist Oscar Meyer (noted for his 1877 Kinetic Theory of Gases), becoming a lecturer in 1880. In 1889, he became professor of theoretical physics at the University of Jena.
References
1. Auerbach, Felix. (1910). Ektropismus und die Physikalische Theorie des Lebens (Ectropy and the Physical Theory of Life). Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann.
2. McMenamin, Mark A. S. (2000). The Garden of Ediacara: Discovering the First Complex Life, (pg. 276). Columbia University Press.
3. Wiener, Philip P. (1973). Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Despotism, to Law, Common. Vol 2. (pg. 117). Scribner.
4. Hirth, George. (1900). Entropie der Keimsysteme und erbliche Entlastung (Entropy of Germ Systems and Hereditary Discharge). Munich: G. Hirth’s Verlag.
(b) Entropy – Dictionary of Ideas.
External links
● Felix Auerbach – Wikipedia (German → English).
● Felix Auerbach (Jena: 1850 to 1950) (German → English).
