This site gives a short review of the history of statistical physics starting from D.
Bernoulli's kinetic theory of gases in the 18th century until the recent new developments
in nonequilibrium kinetic theory in the last decades of this century. The most important
contributions of the great physicists Clausius, Maxwell and Boltzmann are sketched. It is
shown how the reversibility and the recurrence paradox are resolved within Boltzmann's
statistical interpretation of the second law of thermodynamics. An approach to classical
and quantum statistical mechanics is outlined. Finally the progress in nonequilibrium
kinetic theory in the second half of this century is sketched starting from the work
of N.N. Bogolyubov in 1946 up to the progress made recently in understanding the
difusion processes in dense uids using computer simulations and analytical methods.