Conservation and Innovation : Helmholtz's Struggle with Energy ...

Finally we get to the real conclusions, which are worth quoting at length.
Helmholtz in fact did not claim to have demonstrated the principle, but only
believed he had shown that the principle of conservation was "not in
contradiction with any known fact in natural science but that it is corroborated in
a remarkable way by a great number of such facts" 229.
The sophisticated plan outlined at the beginning of the Einleitung has been
carried out: with the greatest possible completeness the consequences of uniting
the principle with the known laws of natural phenomena have been outlined. But
Helmholtz was aware that his own extraordinary theoretical efforts lacked
experimental corroboration: he did not claim to have achieved the latter, but
instead that " the consequences outlined have still to wait for experimental
confirmation". His goal was "to show to the physicists the theoretical, practical
and heuristic relevance of the principle of conservation of force, whose
exhaustive corroboration must be considered, probably, as one of the main tasks
of physics in the near future" 230.
It would certainly be difficult to find in scientific literature a paper expressing a
clearer consciousness of the goals attempted and the results achieved. Both from
the physical and the methodological point of view, the Erhaltung is a
masterpiece.
Questioning one root: the central force controversy with
Clausius (1852-54)
The third stage of Helmholtz's struggle with 'energy' is characterised by
a strong controversy he had with Clausius. The Erhaltung had not enjoyed great
success. Helmholtz was now a physiologist in Koenigsberg and was trying to
convince F.Neumann of his approach to the conservation principle. In the debate
with Clausius, Helmholtz attempted to defend his own views and at the same
time to qualify as an expert on physico-mathematical grounds, not a minor task
for a physiologist. Clausius' criticisms started in 1852 and were extremely serious
: he disclaimed, among others, not the physical probability but the mathematical
necessity of central forces to fulfil vis viva conservation. In his answer,
Helmholtz showed himself to be a great master of mathematical physics and of
scientific methodology; through the introduction of a few (partly ad hoc) physical
229 Helmholtz Erhaltung P.72.
230 Helmholtz Erhaltung P.72.