One engineering professor has taken the opportunity to use his expertise to honor a thermodynamics legend in a new way.

Two years ago, Kenneth Jolls, professor of chemical engineering, was invited to help facilitate the design of a stamp featuring Josiah Willard Gibbs for the new 2005 U.S. Postal Service series on American Scientists, which will be released in April.

Jolls was selected for the project when the U.S. Postal Service came upon his Web site acknowledging Gibbs’ work in thermodynamics.

Gibbs, whom Jolls identified as the originator of the modern chemical system of thermodynamics, wrote three historic papers in the 1870s that introduced visual thinking in the thermodynamic realm.

Jolls, who was the main consultant on research for the stamp’s scientist and design, stumbled upon Gibbs’ work years ago on a trip to the University of California-Berkeley to work on thermodynamics.

“Someone introduced me to Gibbs’ work, and, after I read his writings, I realized that this man had done exactly what I was trying to do,” said Jolls.

Jolls’ work has been applying visual thinking into the understanding of thermodynamics.

After the selection of Gibbs for the stamp, Jolls was asked to provide suggestions for a design to be added to convey Gibbs’ work. The problem came because of Gibbs’ lack of drawings within his papers.

The stamp features an image of Gibbs’ ideas by J.C. Maxwell, a British inventor and visual thinker, which Jolls found at the Berkeley library.

“Gibbs didn’t draw pictures; he just talked about [his idea of thermodynamics],” said Jolls. “But then Maxwell saw the visual connection and made a three-dimensional model of Gibbs’ written visualization.”

Jolls also advised naming Gibbs a thermodynamicist on the stamp rather than a chemist, which the Postal Service had previously called Gibbs.

“Gibbs created a new discipline for thermodynamics which is the root for which everything else comes from,” said Jolls.

Jolls now works on contributing to Gibbs’ idea by drawing the thermodynamic visualizations using modern computer graphics.

“Because I’m a very visual person, I push for a mixture of right- and left-brain thinking in thermodynamics,” said Jolls.

With the stamps completed, Jolls said he is very excited for the release.

“This [stamp design] is something we don’t usually come across in the College of Engineering,” said Dennis Smith, communication specialist for engineering communication and marketing. “But we are really glad Jolls had an opportunity to provide information on Gibbs’ role in thermodynamics because this is a big thing for him.”