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Pollen grains, random walks and einstein

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Abstract

This article reviews the history of the phenomenon of Brownian motion, how it confirmed the molecular view of matter, and how it led to the invention of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics.

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Suggested reading

  1. J Perrin,Atoms (Constable, London, 1916; reprinted by Oxbow Press, Amtierst, Massachusetts, USA, 1990).

  2. S Chandrasekhar,Rev. Mod. Phys., 15, 1–89 (1943); reprinted in N Wax,Selected papers on noise and stochastic processes (Dover, New York, 1954), which has several other classic papers on Brownian motion.

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  4. Balakrishnan Ramaswamy, Fractals: A New Geometry of Nature,Resonance, Vol.2, No.10, 62, 1997.

  5. R P Feynman, R B Leighton and M Sands,The Feynman Lectures in Physics (Addison. Wesley): Vol. I, ch. 41; Vol. II, ch. 19, 1963.

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  6. A Kumar and others,Physics: A textbook for senior secondary classes (NCERT, New Delhi, 1988): Chapter 9 and the accompanying exercises are a lucid and entertaining introduction to atoms, molecules, and Brownian motion.

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  7. F ReitFundamentals of statistical and thermal physics, (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1965): Ch. 1 discusses random walks in great detail.

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  8. A Libchaber,Pramana -J. Phys., 53, 85–99, 1999, gives a brief but inspiring account of the influence of physicists on the study of biology: the story begins with Einstein and Brownian motion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics Indian Institute of Science, Centre for Condensed-Marter Theory, 560 012, Bangalore, India

    Sriram Ramaswamy

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  1. Sriram Ramaswamy
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Correspondence to Sriram Ramaswamy.

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Ramaswamy, S. Pollen grains, random walks and einstein. Reson 10, 106–124 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02835135

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02835135

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