The Universe By Peter Atkins -.pdf-: Four Laws That Drive

The second law of thermodynamics, formulated by Sadi Carnot, Rudolf Clausius, and William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), states that the total entropy of an isolated system always increases over time. Entropy, a measure of disorder or randomness, is a fundamental concept in thermodynamics that characterizes the direction of spontaneous processes. Atkins explains that the second law is a consequence of the asymmetry of time, which implies that the future is different from the past.

Clausius, R. (1850). On a mechanical theory of heat. Four Laws That Drive The Universe By Peter Atkins -.PDF-

Nernst, W. (1906). The theorem of heat.

Atkins, P. W. (2007). The four laws that drive the universe. Oxford University Press. The second law of thermodynamics, formulated by Sadi