Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem: A Polemical Scientist

Pierre Duhem was a multifaceted and prolific scientist active in thermodynamics, physics, history, and philosophy. His rigid and noncompromising attitude, together with deep religious feelings at a time when France was riding a very strong wave of anticlericalism, led to his being unable to teach in Paris and to academic exile in the provinces. He was a prolific writer and he left his name on many equations such as the Gibbs-Duhem and Duhem-Margules equations. We present here a general picture of his life and activities against the political climate in France as well as a discussion of some of his most important contributions to thermodynamics.