Prologue

PARIS FRANCE, 10:35 AM, AUGUST 24, 1832

The nurse closed the door quietly behind her as she left his hospital room. She knew her patient was
very sick, because for the past two days, he had been irritable and lethargic and now he was com-
plaining of a fever and muscle cramps. His eyes looked sunken and he was constantly thirsty; yester-
day, he vomited for hours. Sadi Carnot was only 36 years old, but that day he would die of cholera.
Sadi Carnot was born June 1, 1796, in the Luxembourg Palace in Paris. His father, Lazare Carnot,
was one of the most powerful men in France and would eventually become Napoleon Bonaparte’s
war minister. He named his son Sadi simply because he greatly admired a medieval Persian poet
called Sa’di of Shiraz.
At the age of 18, Sadi graduated from the École Polytechnique military academy and went on to a
military engineering school. Sadi’s friends saw him as reserved, but he became lively and excited
when their discussions turned to science and technology.
After the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in October 1815, Sadi’s father was exiled to Germany and
Sadi’s military career stagnated. Unhappy at his lack of promotion and his superiors’ refusal to give
him work that allowed him to use his engineering training, he took a half-time leave to attend
courses at various institutions in Paris. He was fascinated by technology and began to study the the-
ory of gases.

After the war with Britain, France began importing advanced British steam engines, and Sadi realized
just how far French designs had fallen behind. He became preoccupied with the operation of steam
engines; in 1824, he published his studies in a small book entitled Reflections on the Motive Power of
Fire. At the time, his book was largely ignored, but today it represents the beginning of the field we
call thermodynamics.
Because Sadi Carnot died of infectious cholera, all his clothes and writings were buried with him.
Who knows what thermodynamic secrets still lie hidden in his grave?
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