Convection Cells as Entropy Accelerators
Henri Bénard discovered convection cells in heated fluids in 1900. Lord Rayleigh explained the phenomenon theoretically in 1916. Atmospheric scientists study convection driving weather patterns. Climate researchers recognize convection as fundamental to Earth’s heat budget redistributing solar energy from equator to poles.
Dissipative Structures
Ilya Prigogine developed dissipative structure theory earning the 1977 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He studied far-from-equilibrium systems where energy gradients drive self-organization. Physicists, chemists, and complexity scientists apply this framework to weather patterns, chemical oscillations, and biological organization. Theorists debate whether life fundamentally represents dissipative structure.
Life as Entropy Accelerator
Ilya Prigogine proposed life as dissipative structure maximizing entropy production. Jeremy England developed theoretical frameworks suggesting self-replication emerges inevitably in systems driven by environmental gradients. Biophysicists debate whether maximum entropy production principle explains biological organization and evolution.
Autocatalysis in Chemical Systems
Manfred Eigen studied autocatalytic reaction networks earning the 1967 Nobel Prize for work on fast reactions. Stuart Kauffman developed autocatalytic set theory for origin of life. Chemists observe autocatalysis in Belousov-Zhabotinsky oscillating reactions. Systems biologists recognize autocatalytic feedback loops pervading metabolism and gene regulation.