Landauer

Landauer is a surname of German origin. In addition to being a family name, it is associated with several concepts in physics and with notable individuals who contributed to science, technology, and sport.

Notable people with the name include Rolf Landauer, a physicist whose work helped establish foundational ideas in the thermodynamics of information and quantum transport. Another prominent figure is Kurt Landauer, a German Jewish football administrator who served as a longtime president of FC Bayern Munich, playing a significant role in the club’s early history.

In science, Landauer’s name is attached to key principles and formalisms. The Landauer principle states that the erasure of information is a thermodynamically irreversible process that costs at least k_B T ln 2 of heat per bit erased, linking information theory to physical entropy and energy dissipation. This principle has implications for the limits of computation and data storage efficiency.

The Landauer formula is a foundational concept in mesoscopic physics. It expresses the conductance of a quantum conductor in terms of electron transmission probabilities through available channels, often summarized as G = (2e^2/h) times the sum of transmission probabilities. This idea underpins the Landauer–Büttiker formalism, which describes electronic transport in nanoscale systems.

The surname Landauer appears primarily in German-speaking contexts and is associated with individuals who have influenced physics, information science, and sports administration.