American physicist who formulated a concept of thermodynamic equilibrium of a system in terms of energy and entropy. His work, however, was published in a relatively obscure journal. Gibbs' contributions were therefore unknown among prominent European chemists until they were translated into German by Ostwald in 1892 and into French by le Châtelier in 1899. Gibbs reviewed the relationship between the laws of thermodynamics and statistical theory of molecular motions in Elementary Principles in Statistical Mechanics (1902). He also did extensive work on chemical equilibrium, and equilibria between phases. The overshooting of the original function by partial sums of Fourier series at points of discontinuity is known as the Gibbs phenomenon.

Additional biographies: MacTutor (St. Andrews)