Ludwig Boltzmann Energy, entropy, leadership. February 20, 1844 – September 5, 1906.

1st Ludwig Boltzmann Forum Tokyo 2009

Energy. Entropy. Leadership.

Gerhard Fasol, Chair

Friday, 20th February 2009 (Boltzmann’s birthday, 165 years ago) at the Embassy of Austria in Tokyo

  • 14:00 Welcome by HE the Ambassador of Austria to Japan
  • 14:05-14:35 Hisashi Kobayashi,
    Sherman Fairchild University Professor Emeritus, Princeton University, Executive Advisor, National Institute for Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Japan.
    “Ludwig Boltzmann: His Impacts on Information and Communications Technologies”
  • 14:35-14:45 Coffee Break
  • 14:45-15:15 Gerhard Fasol, CEO, Eurotechnology Japan KK “Ludwig Boltzmann’s scientific achievements”
  • 15:15-15:45 Kazu Ishikawa (EXA Japan) Demonstrations:
    “Boltzmann’s equation for simulation and visualizing flow for the construction of cars, airplanes…”
  • 15:45-16:00 Coffee Break
  • 16:00-16:30 Kiyoshi Kurokawa,
    Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Science, Tokyo, Science and Technology, Former President of the Science Council of Japan, and
    Special Advisor to the Cabinet
    “Science and Technology Leadership and Society”
  • 16:30-17:00 Gerhard Fasol, “Ludwig Boltzmann’s three trips to America and his human achievements ”
  • Followed by reception (private, invitation only)

Registration: latest 14 February 2009

Further information:
Gerhard Fasol,
Georg Poestinger, Counsellor, Austrian Embassy, Tel 03-3451-8281

Ludwig Boltzmann Energy, entropy, leadership
Ludwig Boltzmann Energy, entropy, leadership

Summary

Ludwig Boltzmann was one of the most important physicists and philosophers: it is almost impossible for any engineer, chemist or physicist to do a day’s work without using Boltzmann’s tools and results every day. Ludwig Boltzmann is this author’s and Eurotechnology Japan KK’s founder’s great grandfather – and his excellence is our company’s guiding light.

Ludwig Boltzmann was born 165 years ago on February 20, 1844, and last Friday, February 20, 2009 we celebrated by inviting several of Japan’s science and technology leaders to the Ludwig Boltzmann Symposium in Tokyo with kind cooperation and hospitality by the Ambassador of Austria and the Austrian Embassy.

First speaker was Professor Hisashi Kobayashi, Founder of the IBM Tokyo Laboratory, former Dean of Engineering of Princeton University. He showed how Entropy and noise in communications is linked to Boltzmann’s generalized Entropy and the H-Theorem. Coming from Princeton, Hisashi also showed us elegantly how strongly Einstein’s work is linked to Boltzmann’s.

Professor Kiyoshi Kurokawa, former Dean of Medicine of Tokai University, former President of Japan’s Science Council and Advisor to two Japanese Prime Ministers and now Professor at Japan’s new Political Science University, gave an intense and passionate speech about which changes are necessary to live in our future which will be hot (as in global warming), flat (as in global communications and internet) and crowded (due do population growth). (Website of the book “Hot, flat and croweded” by Thomas L Friedman) Kiyoshi also made a passionate appeal to Japanese organisations (including the S&T leaders participating at our Symposium) to change, open up and compete globally.

Kazu Ishikawa of Exa Japan gave a fantastic demonstration how Boltzmann’s equations are used to simulate airflow for the construction of cars, airplanes, jet engines … Boltzmann’s equations replace the macroscopic Navier-Stokes equations as numerical wind tunnels. Boltzmann’s equations are particularly needed for the simulation of transients.

Finally, Gerhard Fasol, Ludwig Boltzmann’s Great-Grandson, gave two talks: one talk about Ludwig Boltzmann’s scientific achievements, his search for understanding the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics with mechanics, the effects of collisions and the generalization to non-equilibrium – leading the H-Theorem, and the generalization of Entropy and Boltzmann’s philosophical work. The second talk introduced the human side of Ludwig Boltzmann: his life and his passions.

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