By organizing an international symposium on the conceptual foundations of thermodynamics thirty years after the passing away of professor Joseph Henry Keenan, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology intends to honor this distinguished scientist who served on the faculty of its Mechanical Engineering Department for 43 years and effectively started an innovative school of thought on thermodynamics.

The symposium featured open discussions among international experts about conceptual, foundational and philosophical issues, enigmas, paradoxes and open questions regarding the role that the second law of thermodynamics plays in natural sciences, including physics, biology, energy, engineering, quantum information, micro and nanotechnology, and cosmology.