Footnotes to the history of statistical mechanics: In Boltzmann’s words

Although Ludwig Boltzmann was one of the primary founders of the field of statistical mechanics, very few contemporary physicists have actually read his papers. As a result, some of his ideas have been distorted or even lost over the course of time. In this paper, I will discuss some of the reasons for the neglect of Boltzmann’s writings and try to reintroduce one of his most important ideas, the definition of entropy.