Thermodynamics is a cornerstone of the scientific and engineering disciplines encompassing core branches of chemistry, physics, biology, chemical engineering, petroleum engineering, and materials science. The thermodynamic interrelationships between heat, work, and energy are the basis for understanding the properties of matter and its transformations, which are at the heart of the design and optimisation of industrial processes, and the development of advanced materials and products. Thermodynamics provides a platform from which scientists and engineers can analyse and describe complex systems from the microscopic (molecular) level to the macroscopic scale of bulk matter. Although its origins date back to the scientific revolution, thermodynamics has continued to evolve, benefitting from advances in experimental techniques, theoretical formalism, and numerical molecular simulation. As a consequence of some of the more recent developments, the discipline is becoming relevant to an increasing number of domains including the complex supramolecular arrangements ubiquitous in the life sciences, nanomaterials and colloidal systems in which short-range interactions can be dominant, and complex fluids such as liquid crystals, polyelectrolytes, and ionic liquids, which have been the subject of much current attention.
The Thermodynamics 2013 Conference was the 23rd meeting in a series of biennial thermodynamics conferences conceived in the 1960s by Sir John Rowlinson and Max McGlashan, and initiated in Keele by Harold Springall (Spring as he was affectionately known by his friends, including Linus Pauling). Although the original emphasis of the science presented at the meetings was on experimental thermodynamics, the Thermodynamics Conference Series (TCS) now has a wide remit encompassing broad areas of the discipline including experiment, theory, and molecular simulation. The meetings were traditionally held in the UK (see ) until 2005, when the conference was hosted by Eduardo Filipe and José Nuno Canongia Lopes in Sesimbra, a picturesque fishing village 40 km from Lisbon. In view of the great success of the Portuguese conference, it was decided to hold TCS meetings in both the UK and continental Europe from then on. In 2013, the conference was held in Manchester, UK.
Table 1. The Thermodynamics Conference Series; the TCS Steering Committee presiding officer is indicated in brackets.
After the faithful, selfless, and single-handed stewardship of Christopher Wormald in the 1990s, the TCS began its close association with the Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics Group (SMTG) of the Faraday Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). As an independent organisation, the remit of the TCS is the promotion of thermodynamics as a scientific discipline, to improve its techniques, and to advance their application in science and technology through the organisation of biennial conferences, bringing together researchers from academia and industry from all over the world. The TCS is managed by a permanent Steering Committee, at present comprising the Treasurer of the Conference Series (who acts as the Presiding Officer of the Committee), the Chair of the SMTG Management Committee, an additional member of the SMTG, a UK-based member, the acting Thermodynamics Conference Chair, the previous Thermodynamics Conference Chair, and members of the International Scientific and the Local Organising Committees. The constitution of the TCS Steering Committee of the Thermodynamics 2013 Conference and the forthcoming Thermodynamics 2015 Conference that is to be held in Copenhagen is shown in .
Table 2. Membership of the TCS Steering Committee.
Two prizes are currently awarded at the Thermodynamics Conferences: the Lennard–Jones Lectureship and Prize in recognition of outstanding and enduring contributions to the field (see ), and the Christopher Wormald Prize for the most meritorious postgraduate research as nominated by members of the community (see ). The Lennard–Jones Lectureship and Prize has a long and illustrious history; it was originally awarded in alternate years by the Theoretical Chemistry Group (TCG) and the SMTG of the RSC, then biennially by the SMTG alone, and now by the TCS. Nominations for the Lennard–Jones Prize are made by the SMTG Management Committee to the TCS during the organisation of the programme for the Thermodynamics Conference, at which the recipient of the prize gives a keynote presentation.
Table 3. The Lennard–Jones Lectureship and Prize.
Table 4. The Christopher Wormald Prize for most meritorious postgraduate research.
The Thermodynamics 2013 Conference was held in the University of Manchester between 3rd and 6th September 2013, and was attended by over 200 academic and industrial participants. The science presented at the meeting included the following broad themes: statistical mechanics and equations of state; novel experimental methods; molecular modelling and simulation; multi-scale modelling from quantum mechanics to engineering approaches; transport properties of complex fluids; interfacial phenomena; polymers and other materials; biomass and alternative energy; ionic liquids and green processes including supercritical fluids; aqueous systems and electrolytes; pharmaceuticals; nanoscale processes; and carbon dioxide and conventional energy production. The format consisted of invited plenary lectures, oral presentations, short five-minute oral presentations (which are particularly well suited to early career researchers), and posters. The highlights of the Thermodynamics 2013 Conference included the Lennard–Jones Lecture by Keith Gubbins entitled ‘Thermodynamics of Confined Nano-phases: The Role of Molecular Simulation’ (sponsored by Unilever), the Molecular Physics Lecture by Daan Frenkel entitled ‘Entropy and Packing’ (sponsored by Taylor and Francis Ltd), the BP sponsored lecture by Ross Clarke, entitled ‘Confessions of a Rate-Based Column Modeller: What I Want from the Thermodynamics and Physical Properties Community’, and the presentation by Esther Forte, the recipient of the Christopher Wormald Prize, entitled ‘Measurement and Prediction of the Phase Behaviour of Carbon Dioxide, Alkane and Water Mixtures at Reservoir Conditions”. The winner of the Syngenta Challenge was Christoph Held, who addressed both of the proposed challenges, presenting a very accurate model for the phase behaviour of the benzoic acid–water mixture and accurate predictions of the solubility of the acid in a number of solvents. We also note the public discussion, sponsored by the University of Manchester and the Manchester City Council on ‘Meeting the Climate Challenge: Is a Low Carbon Energy Future Possible?’ Over 400 members of the public and conference participants attended this event. The contributions of the expert panel members can be viewed at the following link: https://stream.manchester.ac.uk/Play.aspx?VideoId=15849.
The members of the TCS Steering Committee are very grateful to the editors of Molecular Physics for supporting the publication of this special issue of the journal dedicated to the Thermodynamics 2013 Conference and to the publishers (Taylor and Francis Ltd.) for sponsoring the event, as they had done for the 2007, 2009, and 2011 meetings. Contributions from participants are being published following review and editing to the usual high standard. The novel and exciting research presented at the conference will be abundantly apparent from the papers collected here. On behalf of the TCS, we would like to acknowledge the support of George Jackson and Ioannis Economou during the preparation of the 2013 Conference, and we cordially invite you to the Thermodynamics 2015 Conference in Copenhagen, chaired by Georgios Kontogeorgis (see http://www.thermodynamics2015.org/ for further details).