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Jeremy Dunning-Davies (born 1941) is a Welsh theoretical physicist.

Biography

Jeremy Dunning-Davies was born in Barry, Wales in 1941. He attended Barry Boys' Grammar School, after which he was an undergraduate in mathematics at Liverpool University. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Wales in Cardiff under Peter Landsberg. In 1966 he was appointed lecturer in applied mathematics at the University of Hull, with a later promotion to senior lecturer. He transferred to the physics department in 2002, before retiring in 2008. He is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Dunning-Davies is also connected with web organisations devoted to fringe science, in particular "hadronic mechanics", the subject invented by Ruggero Santilli.

Research and work

J. Dunning Davies research work, initially was directed toward the studying of statistical thermodynamics of the ideal relativistic quantum gases, and Some general results concerning particle-number fluctuations also originated in this study of the ideal quantum gases. In the 1980’s, attention again focussed on the ideal Bose-Einstein gas, - the interest being reawakened by the exploration, at that time, of the cosmological implications of a massive primordial photon gas and by the increased attention being paid to problems associated with quarks and quark confinement, and published extensive important work. He studied the connection between the various forms of the Second Law of Thermodynamics and investigating the possible link between the Second and Third Laws, and suggested the possibility of running Carnot cycles when one, or both, of the heat reservoirs have negative absolute temperatures. In collaboration with Bernard Lavenda of the University of Camerino in Italy he looked at a wide variety of problems in Thermodynamics and Statistical Thermodynamics. He was to study a probabilistic approach to thermodynamics and showed that physical statistics may be derived from error laws belonging to exponential families of distributions. Instead of using Boltzmann’s principle to relate the entropy to what is called the “thermodynamic” probability, and he found that the entropy determines the form of the error law. He also showed that, where Stirling’s approximation is applicable, the probability distribution is a function of the difference between the entropy and its maximum value at equilibrium for which the average and most probable values coincide. This new approach established that there are no intermediate statistics between the well-known Fermi and Bose statistics which are governed by the binomial and negative binomial distributions respectively. The said technique is now applied to a wide range of topics.

He is a member of the Institute for Basic Research in Florida, and head of Division of Thermodynamics and Full Professor in the Institute. In collaboration with Professor Santilli, Dunning-Davies is now engaged in extending thermodynamics to cover the new range of materials presently being produced in Florida. The technology involved in producing these new substances arose from work on the newly discovered fuel, referred to in the literature as “Aquafuel”. His extensive work produced more than 100 pubblications on Thermodynamics, Electronic Engineering and Mathematical Reports.

Selected publications

• Dunning-Davies, Jeremy (1996). Concise Thermodynamics: Principles and Applications in Physical Science and Engineering. Chichester, UK: Horwood. ISBN 1898563152.
• Dunning-Davies, Jeremy (2003). Mathematical Methods for Mathematicians,Physical Scientists and Engineers. Chichester, UK: Horwood. ISBN 1904275109.
• Dunning-Davies, Jeremy (2007). Exploding a Myth: Conventional Wisdom or Scientific Truth?. Chichester, UK: Horwood. ISBN 1904275303.

Notes

1. Autobiographical notes, 11th August 2008
2. Administrative board of the Teleseo-Galilei Academy of Science

References

• Dunning-Davies' home page on the University of Hull website

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• v
• t
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• 1941 births
• Fringe science
• Living people
• People from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan