Talk:Thermodynamic beta

what?

what is S here on the page? it's undefined

$S=k\ln \Omega ,\,$ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.16.123.194 (talk) 16:45, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

$S$ is entropy, and it is defined as $k\ln \Omega$. False vacuum (talk) 10:23, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

When?

I recall being taught reciprocal temperature – as a more fundamental expression of the physics of matter – way back in the late 1950 in undergrad courses.

We were taught not only the points in this article, but also the advantages of complex temperatures and their reciprocals in several fields of application.

Perhaps somebody can provide more of the uses, and advantages of reciprocals, negative and complex temperatures as discussed beyond the cites here.

Is this article a promotion of one school of thought, sprung in full panoply from the forehead of a recent Zeus?

GreggEdwards (talk) 18:57, 14 September 2018 (UTC)

Incorrect History

The history of thermodynamic beta presented on this page is completely incorrect. Beta was being used to represent inverse temperature considerably before 1971. For instance, Statistical Physics by Reif (1964) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 148.64.112.142 (talk) 23:33, 18 September 2024 (UTC)

I added a template while I try to look something about it. Do you have a page number? What is it called in the book? What does the Reif say?--ReyHahn (talk) 17:13, 19 September 2024 (UTC)

After checkin 1965 version, there is clearly a discussion of β; in chapter 4 (absolute temperature section). Any ideas on the true origin of this quantity?--ReyHahn (talk) 17:27, 19 September 2024 (UTC)

β appears also in Statistical Physics from Landau's Course of Theoretical Physics (1959), section 33. --ReyHahn (talk) 17:39, 19 September 2024 (UTC)

Felix Bloch article Zur Theorie des Austauschproblems und der Remanenzerscheinung der Ferromagnetika (1932) already introduces $\lambda =(kT)^{-1}$ so this quantity might be as old as statistical physics.--ReyHahn (talk) 17:47, 19 September 2024 (UTC)