Statistical Thermodynamics

Andrew Maczek, until his retirement, was a Senior Lecturer in Physical Chemistry at the University of Sheffield, where his research focused on the thermophysical behaviour of fluids. He obtained his first degree in Chemistry at the University of Oxford, where he stayed on to obtain his DPhil in Inorganic Chemistry with Courtney Philips. During a postdoctoral period at the University of Leeds he came under the influence of Peter Gray and happily converted to become aphysical chemist. The first edition of this Primer was written during the years while he was actively engaged in academic pursuits at Sheffield.Anthony Meijer is a reader in Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Sheffield, where he and his research group work on the theoretical study of chemical reactions using both electronic structure and quantum dynamics methods for a wide variety of systems from the formation of molecules in the interstellar medium to the vibrational control of electronically excited states. He obtained an MSc in Chemistry from the University of Utrecht before obtaining a PhD with Ad van der Avoird at theUniversity of Nijmegen. He has been at Sheffield for the past 13 years.