Heat and Kinetic Theory in 19th-Century Physics Textbooks: The Case of Spain

Abstract

Spain was a scientifically backward country in the early 19th-century. The causes were various political events, the War of Independence, and the reign of Fernando VII. The introduction of contemporary physics into textbooks was therefore a slow process. An analysis of the contents of 19th-century Spanish textbooks is here presented, centred on imponderable fluids, the concept of energy, the mechanical theory of heat, and the kinetic theory of gases.