Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 224, 769–780 (2015)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2015-02426-7

Regular Article

Carnot principle and its generalizations: A very short story of a long journey

¹ University Pierre et Marie Curie, LPTMC, 75210 Paris, France
² LPS, Ecole Normale Supérieure, rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France

Received: 17 September 2015
Revised: 7 May 2015
Published online: 17 July 2015

Abstract

We briefly summarize the history of Carnot principle and of its generalizations, as an introduction to the special issue of European Physical Journal Special Topics devoted to this subject.