
Mathematicians solve 140-year-old Boltzmann equation - bpung
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100513162755.htm
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giu
A _mathematician_ has written a nice comment (or: a _rough overview_ ) over at
Reddit in regard to what the UPenn mathematicians have accomplished:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/c3s6h/mathematician...](http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/c3s6h/mathematicians_solve_140yearold_boltzmann_equation/c0pz93j)

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Jun8
I always feel sorry for Botzman: Encountering fierce resistance from the
scientific community for his statistical theory (bedrock now but very
revolutionary at that time), he committed suicide.

So much for the high school history of science, where better theories
immediately replace inadequate ones. Even Einstein didn't get his Nobel for
his Special Theory.

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zbyszek
But he did get one for his equally novel explanation of the photoelectric
effect, so I wouldn't feel too sorry for him.

Nobel prizes tend not to be given for theoretical work until there is a good
deal of supporting experimental evidence. This takes time, and that's why
better theories do not usually replace their predecessors immediately.

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grandinj
Summary: they didn't really solve it, but they re-affirmed it's stability
under certain conditions, and proved some interesting mathematical properties

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thefool
did anyone reading understand what problem the article is actually referring
to?

Some complicated differential equation?

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kurtosis
It is the boltzmann equation of kinetic theory. It is a differential equation
for a 6 dimensional function f(r,v) which describes the number of particles at
location r, with velocity v. This distribution changes as the particles fly
through space and collide with one another. It has important applications in
the theory of hot dilute gases (e.g. rocket engines) and the theory of
conductivity in solid-state physics. There are already practical
approximations and numerical methods used by physicists who need practical
answers to these problems so I think this is mostly of interest to
mathematicians...

