Conservation of energy
Principio de conservación de la energía
- Date
- 1847 · confidence high
- Place
- Berlin, Germany
- Credited to
- Hermann von Helmholtz; Julius Robert von Mayer; James Prescott Joule
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Total energy (mechanical, thermal, electrical, chemical) is conserved in every process; Helmholtz formulates it mathematically in 'Über die Erhaltung der Kraft'. It is the most general principle of physics and unifies all its branches.
Multiple discovery: Mayer (1842), Joule (1843), Colding (1843) and Helmholtz (1847); Kuhn cites it as a paradigmatic case of simultaneous discovery.
What it led to
- First law of thermodynamics
- Noether's theorem (energy and time symmetry)
- Unified physics of the 19th century
- Concept of energy in chemistry and biology
Built on
- Mechanical equivalent of heat1843-1849
- Leibniz's vis viva
- Physiology of animal heat
Made possible
- Energy analysis of machines and organisms
- Energy engineering