In existographies, William Frederic Cottrell (1903-1979) (CR:4), aka "Fred Cottrell" (Adams, 1988), not to be confused with American physical chemist and noted Gibbsian (Ѻ) thinker Frederick Cottrell (1877-1948), was an American sociologist, semi-discussed in sociological thermodynamics, noted for his 1955 book Energy and Society, wherein, supposedly, he sought to explain human societies as thermodynamic systems. [1] Cottrell’s book is also said to be one of the first to connect a society’s energy conditions and the evolution of its culture. [2]

American social energetics historian Eric Zencey summarizes Cottrell as someone who linked social and economic change to changes in energy sources and the technologies they powered. [3]

Quotes | On

The following are quotes on Cottrell:

“Fred Cottrell’s 1955 classic Energy and Society was received with muted applause in sociology.”
— Richard Adams (1988), The Eight Day (pg. xv)

References
1. Trigger, Bruce G. (1990). “Monumental Architecture: a Thermodynamic Explanation of Symbolic Behavior”, World Archaeology, 22(2): 119-132.
2. (a) Cottrell, Fred. (1955). Energy and Society: the Relationship between Energy, Social Change, and Economic Development (thermodynamics, pgs. 14, 18; entropy, pgs. 13, 24) (revised, 2009). Freeman.
(b) Energy and Society – Encyclopedia of Earth.
3. Zencey, Eric. (2013). “Energy as a Master Resource” (pdf), in: State of the World 2013: Is Sustainability Still Possible? (§7:##-; image, figure 1-2). Island Press, 2013.

Further reading
● Cottrell, William F. (1972). Technology, Man, and Progress. Merrill.

External links
● William Frederic Cottrell – Encyclopedia of Earth.
● Cottrell, William Frederick – The Energy Library.