Ilya Prigogine quotes

Ilya Prigogine was a Belgian physical chemist and Nobel laureate, renowned for his work on dissipative structures and complex systems. His groundbreaking research fundamentally changed the understanding of thermodynamics and irreversible processes. He advanced the idea that order can arise from chaos, influencing fields far beyond chemistry. Here are 18 of his quotes:

It is a remarkable fact that the second law of thermodynamics has played in the history of science a fundamental role far beyond its original scope. Suffice it to mention Boltzmann's work on kinetic theory, Planck's discovery of quantum theory or Einstein's theory of spontaneous emission, which were all based on the second law of thermodynamics.

Ilya Prigogine

The ideas of nonequilibrium order and of the search for stability extend Darwin's concept back to the prebiotic stage by redefining the "fittest.”.

Ilya Prigogine

We grow in direct proportion to the amount of chaos we can sustain and dissipate.

Ilya Prigogine

Whatever we call reality, it is revealed to us only through the active construction in which we participate.

Ilya Prigogine

The threat lies in the realization that in our universe the security of stable, permanent rules are gone forever. We are living in a dangerous and uncertain world that inspires no blind confidence. Our hope arises from the knowledge that even small fluctuations may grow and change the overall structure. As a result, individual activity is not doomed to insignificance.

Ilya Prigogine

My colleague Paul Glansdorff and I have investigated the problem as to if the results of near-equilibrium can be extrapolated to those of far - from-equilibrium situations and have arrived at a surprising conclusion: Contrary to what happens at equilibrium, or near equilibrium, systems far from equilibrium do not conform to any minimum principle that is valid for functions of free energy or entropy production.

Ilya Prigogine

The problem of time in physics and chemistry is closely related to the formulation of the second law of thermodynamics. Therefore another possible title of this lecture could have been: "the macroscopic and microscopic aspects of the second law of thermodynamics”.

Ilya Prigogine

Coherent behavior is the characteristic feature of biological systems.

Ilya Prigogine

The denial of becoming by physics estranged science from philosophy... [and] became a dogmatic assertion directed against all those (chemists, biologists, physicians) for whom a qualitative diversity existed in nature... Today we believe that the epoch of certainties and absolute oppositions is over. Physicists belong to their culture, to which, in their turn, they make an essential contribution.

Ilya Prigogine

The evolution of a physicochemical system leads to an equilibrium state of maximum disorder.

Ilya Prigogine

The functional order maintained within living systems seems to defy the Second Law; nonequilibrium thermodynamics describes how such systems come to terms with entropy.

Ilya Prigogine

Equilibrium thermodynamics was an achievement of the nineteenth century, nonequilibrium thermodynamics was developed in the twentieth century, and Onsager's relations mark a crucial point in the shift of interest away from equilibrium to non-equilibrium.

Ilya Prigogine

We have seen that the formation and maintenance of self-organizing systems are compatible with the laws of physical chemistry.

Ilya Prigogine

Given my interest in the concept of time, it was only natural that my attention was focused on the second principle, as I felt from the start that it would introduce a new, unexpected element into the description of physical world evolution. No doubt it was the same impression illustrious physicists such as Boltzmann and Planck would have felt before me. A huge part of my scientific career would then be devoted to the elucidation of macroscopic as well as microscopic aspects of the second principle, in order to extend its validity to new situations, and to the other fundamental approaches of theoretical physics, such as classical and quantum dynamics.

Ilya Prigogine

In an isolated system, which cannot exchange energy and matter with the surroundings, this tendency is expressed in terms of a function of the macroscopic state of the system: the entropy.

Ilya Prigogine

The future is uncertain... but this uncertainty is at the very heart of human creativity.

Ilya Prigogine