"From steam engine to the evaporating black hole"

Klaas Landsman, professor of mathematical physics at Radboud University, winner of the Spinoza Prize and author of Foundations of General Relativity. From Einstein to Black Holes, presents on the World of Industry, Technology & Science (WoTS).

Friday, Sept. 27, the World of Industry, Technology & Science is all about fascinating science. Three top scientists will talk enthusiastically about fundamental research and its practical implications. About their fascination for science and for the world.

Klaas gives me an hour of his time and eagerly I try to capture his fascination for the world, for science and for technology. He talks enthusiastically about his drive to translate from fundamental science to the practical world around us from a deeply embedded sense of responsibility.

Thermodynamics

"Thermodynamics is the basis of our energy-based society," says Klaas as he puts thermodynamics in a historical context. "Thermodynamics finds its origins around the year 1800. The steam engine had just been invented in England and this was the starting shot of the industrial revolution. The physicists of the time were mesmerized by the problem of how to make such a machine more efficient." The power of science lay in practical applicability. Consider the development of steamships that could sail from England to the United States in one go.

"The development of the steam engine was a crucial step for theoretical physics. The concept of energy was discovered, so to speak, during this period and gained enormous wings. The Industrial Revolution was a defining period for physics - driving the understanding of devices - in a way that has not been seen since." Here Klaas hooks into the modern world and the problems we must necessarily confront: the energy transition and the climate crisis.  

As we talk, klaas becomes increasingly enthusiastic about his lecture. The historical interaction between science and industry and the dilemmas that each next step implies fascinate him. He becomes inspired by the interaction between industry and science. A connection that at the beginning of the 19^the century in optima forma provided the foundation for physics.

One theory

From a detour, Klaas has arrived at thermodynamics. He marvels that the story that begins with the steam engine and ends with black holes is one theory and has never been told like this before. Originally, Klaas was not interested in thermodynamics. Or as he puts it himself, "I didn't understand it." His interest was in black holes. "The strangest objects ever discovered and described." At Cambridge, Klaas worked around Stephen Hawking and his interest in black holes was piqued. One of Hawking's greatest discoveries was that black holes evaporate AND have a temperature. Because black holes have radiation, they lose energy very slowly. The theoretical model that describes this process corresponds to the thermodynamics developed after the industrial revolution. "From the steam engine to black holes is one theory," Klaas summarizes his inspiring story.

Want to know more? Klaas Landsman gives for Fascinating Science an inspiring lecture on thermodynamics, the steam engine and black holes. The WoTS is the perfect time to present new ideas and developments to the world. And Klaas Landsman seizes this opportunity with both hands.