Scaling down the Laws of Thermodynamics

The Department of Chemistry is pleased to welcome Professor Christopher Jarzynski from the University of Maryland as our guest speaker for the 2025–2026 A.R. Gordon Distinguished Lecture Series. Professor Jarzynski will deliver three talks from April 15–17, 2026. Faculty members interested in a one-on-one meeting with Professor Jarzynski are invited to send requests to chem.reception@utoronto.ca.

Abstract: The study of thermodynamics originated in an engineering problem: how to build a better steam engine. From these beginnings the field has evolved into a remarkable conceptual framework and set of laws that govern the exchange of energy and matter. Einstein called it “the only physical theory of universal content which I am convinced will never be overthrown”. Although the laws of thermodynamics were originally developed with macroscopic objects in mind, nanoscale systems also exhibit “thermodynamic-like” behavior. The biomolecular motors that exist in our cells convert chemical fuel into mechanical work, and single molecules exhibit hysteresis when manipulated using optical tweezers.

To what extent can the laws of thermodynamics be scaled down to apply to individual microscopic systems, and what new features emerge at the nanoscale? I will describe some of the challenges and recent progress – both theoretical and experimental – associated with addressing these questions. Along the way, my talk will touch on apparent “violations” of the second law, the thermodynamic arrow of time, Maxwell’s demon, and quantum thermodynamics.

Bio: Christopher Jarzynski received his AB degree from Princeton University (1987) and his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley (1994), both in Physics. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Nuclear Theory in Seattle, he spent ten years in the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory, first as a postdoc and then as a technical staff member. In 2006 he moved to the University of Maryland, College Park. He is a Distinguished University Professor with appointments in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, the Institute for Physical Science and Technology, and the Department of Physics.

Jarzynski’s research interests include theoretical and computational work at the interface of physics, chemistry and biology, with a particular focus on nonequilibrium phenomena and the application of thermodynamic principles to microscopic systems. In 1996 he derived an equality that relates irreversible work to equilibrium free energy differences, which has been verified in numerous experiments over the past two decades. His recent research focus includes quantum control and thermodynamics, the thermodynamic arrow of time, and the physical implications of information processing. His has received the Sackler Prize in the Physical Sciences (2005), the Lars Onsager Prize in theoretical statistical physics (2019), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2020), among other awards.

He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the US National Academy of Sciences.

Zoom Meeting Link: https://uoft.me/Jarzynski2026
Zoom Meeting ID: 869 9225 6585
Passcode: Gordon2026

To learn more about the A.R. Gordon Distinguished Lecture Series, view a list of previous speakers or download a program for the symposium, click here.