alt Hacker NewsAn interesting aside is that early feedback control theory was developed in the 19th century by James Clerk Maxwell et. al., for the purpose of governing steam engines. I wonder if the interest in steam power also pushed the study of thermodynamics forward.
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throwaway173738 • today at 3:01 AM
Most assuredly. One of the things you learn in thermodynamics is how to analyze heat engine cycles based on measurements of a quantity of fluid.
Yes to both. Maxwell's "On Governors"[1] is still a good introduction to control theory. See the part "This is the condition of stability of the motion." That's the beginning of understanding linear feedback stability. People built governors before Maxwell, but sometimes they oscillated or saturated. Maxwell put a theory underneath that behavior.
[1] https://archive.org/details/jstor-112510/page/n1/mode/2up