American Scientist

Farmyard Thermodynamics

Walter Nernst, born in 1864, was one of the German moguls of physics and physical chemistry. His most famous contributions were in thermodynamics (of which he formulated the Third Law) and in electrochemistry. In 1920, he acquired Zibelle, an extensive estate in East Prussia. There were cows, pigs, a pond with carp, and a thousand acres of land, which included fields of cereals and other crops. Nernst pursued his new interest in farming with characteristic single-mindedness.

It is related that on a tour of inspection on a cold winter’s morning he entered the cowshed and was astonished to discover how warm it was. Why was it heated, he asked? The reply came that the heat was generated only by the cows, the result of metabolic activity. Nernst was dumbstruck and immediately resolved to sell his cows and invest instead in carp: a thinking man, he said, cultivates animals that are in thermodynamic equilibrium with their surroundings and does not waste his money in heating the universe. So the old system of ponds on the estate was stocked with carp, which did not noticeably heat the water of their pond.

From Eurekas and Euphorias: The Oxford Book of Scientific Anecdotes
Walter Gratzer
Oxford University Press, $28