The laws of thermodynamics

Carnot analyses heat engines in 1824; Joule establishes the mechanical equivalent of heat; Clausius and Kelvin formulate the first and second laws by the 1850s, and Clausius names entropy in 1865. The second law states that disorder increases in a closed system, which is the only fundamental physical law that distinguishes past from future. Boltzmann then explains it statistically and is largely disbelieved.