This textbook explains completely the general and statistical thermodynamics. It begins with an introductory statistical mechanics course, deriving all the important formulae meticulously and explicitly, without mathematical short cuts. The main part of the book deals with the careful discussion of the concepts and laws of thermodynamics, van der Waals, Kelvin and Claudius theories, ideal and real gases, thermodynamic potentials, phonons and all the related aspects. To elucidate the concepts introduced and to provide practical problem solving support, numerous carefully worked examples are of great value for students. The text is clearly written and punctuated with many interesting anecdotes. This book is written as main textbook for upper undergraduate students attending a course on thermodynamics.

Author Biography

HONORS AND AWARDS Fulbright Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania: 1962 - 1964. Fellow American Physical Society EMPLOYMENT: Senior Scientific Officer and Adviser to the Chairman, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, 1964-66. TEMPLE UNIVERSITY, Philadelphia, PA. : Assistant Professor of Physics: 1966-1968 Associate Professor of Physics: 1968-1971 Professor of Physics: 1971 to present Chairman Department of Physics: July, 1990 to August, 1995. Other relevant employment: United Kingdom Atomic Energy Research Establishment Fellow at Harwell, U.K., Summer 1962; August and September, 1964. Professeur d'echange, Faculte des Sciences, Orsay, Universite de Paris - 1971. Visiting Professor, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil -Summer, 1973; December and January, 1974 Visiting Professor, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceio, Brazil - 1980. Senior Scientific Consultant to the U.N. Development Program - 1981. On seven different occasions---that is: Spring, 1970; Summers: 1977; 1979; 1981; 1982; 1985; 1986---appointed as: Research Leader, International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy' NATO Senior Visiting Fellow, Oxford University - 1974. United Kingdom Science Research Council Visiting Scientist, Oxford University - Summers: 1975, 1978, and 1980. National Science Foundation of Brazil (called CNPq) Senior Visiting Scientist - December, January, 1976. Senior Visiting Scientist, Polish Academy of Science, Poland -- 1976. United States National Academy and the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences, Senior Visiting Fellow at the Institute Stefan in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia - Summer 1976. Fellow, Kyoto University Foundation, Kyoto, Japan - 1980. (British)Royal Society Visiting Professor, Oxford University - Summers 1983 and 1984. Visiting Scientist, Max Planck Institute, Munich, Germany -Summer 1985. Senior Visiting Scientist, Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France (July-Dec., 1989). Senior Visiting Scientist, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Helsinki, Finland (August, 1992).