In the history of thermodynamics, "On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances" is a 300-page paper written by American chemical physicist Willard Gibbs.
[4][5] It remained largely unknown until translated into German by Wilhelm Ostwald and into French by Henry Louis Le Châtelier.
[6][7] As stated by Le Chatelier, it "founded a new department of chemical science that is becoming comparable in importance to that created by [Antoine] Lavoisier."
This work was translated into German by Ostwald (who styled its author the "founder of chemical energetics") in 1891 and into French by Le Châtelier in 1899.
[2] In these papers Gibbs applied thermodynamics to the interpretation of physicochemical phenomena and showed the explanation and interrelationship of what had been known only as isolated, inexplicable facts.