The Maximum Entropy Principle in Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics: A Brief History and the Contributions of Wolfgang Dreyer

Abstract

We present a brief history of how the famous Maximum Entropy Principle was used as closure of moments of the Boltzmann equation. In particular, we want to remark on the important role of two fundamental papers by Wolfgang Dreyer, one in the classical framework and one in a relativistic context, to use this principle and to compare the result with the macroscopic theory of Rational Extended Thermodynamics.