Prof. Marc Henry – Thermodynamics of Life (Part 4 of 6)

In this fourth part of Thermodynamics of Life, Prof. Marc Henry, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the University of Strasbourg, joins Dr. Klaus Schustereder for a brilliant and often humorous deep dive into one of science’s most misunderstood words—energy—and the concept that quietly governs the universe: entropy.

With clarity and wit, Professor Henry unpacks the centuries-long confusion surrounding “energy.” Everyone talks about it—politicians, scientists, engineers—but few can define what energy truly is. “If you try to define it without an example,” he says, “you cannot. It is undefinable.” From Aristotle’s energeia to Poincaré’s paradox, Henry traces how science inherited a concept that can only be described by examples—mechanical, electrical, thermal, nuclear—none of which capture its essence.

He explains that entropy, not energy, could serve as new foundation of life. Unlike energy—which depends on lists, categories, and exceptions—entropy can be clearly defined: it measures how much space and motion are available to matter at a given temperature. The greater the possibilities, the greater the entropy. From solids to liquids to gases, Henry demonstrates that this single idea explains every state of matter—something energy alone cannot do.

⚙️ Key Insights

• Entropy is measurable and universal. It represents accessible configurations in space and time.
• Energy “consumption” is a myth. According to the first law of thermodynamics, energy cannot be destroyed or consumed—only transformed.
• Invoices for electricity should say “entropy production,” not “energy consumption.” We pay for transformation, not disappearance.
• Free energy, internal energy, and enthalpy are simply entropy expressed under different fixed conditions (pressure, volume, or temperature).
• History’s mistake: Entropy was born as “energy loss,” making people dislike it. But entropy is not loss—it’s the measure of evolution, transformation, and life.

🧠 A Journey Through Science and Paradox

Professor Henry retells how Galileo’s telescope, Newton’s laws, and Sadi Carnot’s steam engine led humanity from mechanics to thermodynamics—and to the birth of entropy through the work of Rudolf Clausius and Ludwig Boltzmann. He shows that while mechanics was based on energy conservation, thermodynamics revealed something deeper: every real process produces entropy.

The industrial revolution measured everything in “joules,” thanks to James Prescott Joule, a brewer whose experiments linked mechanical motion to heat. But Joule’s convenient unit blurred the distinction between heat and energy, creating a linguistic illusion that still distorts modern physics, engineering, and medicine.

🌌 From Energy to Entropy to Life

The discussion expands into the philosophy of science itself. Why cling to a concept that cannot be defined when entropy alone explains all change? Henry argues that if science had discovered entropy before energy, our entire worldview—especially in biology and medicine—would be more coherent. Entropy, not energy, describes how systems evolve and self-organize.

He also links entropy to cosmology, suggesting that the expansion of the universe is driven by the unstoppable creation of entropy. “The universe is impatient,” he says, “because entropy can never be destroyed. As it increases, the universe must expand to contain it.”

For Henry, this is the bridge between physics, life, and consciousness itself: the second law of thermodynamics is the true law of evolution. There is no need for the “first law.” The second law alone—entropy always increases—explains motion, time, and life’s direction toward greater complexity.

🔄 Spin, Constants, and the Disappearance of Energy

In the final segment, Henry discusses spin, Planck’s constant, and the six universal constants that define reality: gravitation, light speed, electric charge, Avogadro’s number, Boltzmann’s constant (entropy), and Planck’s constant (spin).

Notice, he says, there is no constant for energy—proving it is not fundamental. Entropy and spin are the true pillars of the universe.

“If you speak of energy,” Henry concludes, “you are a technician. If you speak of entropy, you are a scientist.”

🎙️ Guest: Prof. Marc Henry

• University of Strasbourg – Department of Chemistry
• Author of Thermodynamics of Life

🎧 Host: Dr. Klaus Schustereder

• Scientific conversations on life, energy, and consciousness

📘 Series: Thermodynamics of Life – a six-part dialogue uniting physics, biology, and philosophy to reveal how entropy, water, and consciousness shape the universe.

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