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Ilya Prigogine
1917–2003 · Belgium · 20th century
Nobel Chemistry 1977
Belgian chemist of Russian origin who extended thermodynamics to systems far from equilibrium, reshaping the understanding of order and complexity.
Nobel Prize work
He created the thermodynamics of irreversible processes far from equilibrium, showing how 'dissipative structures' can self-organise and maintain order in open systems exchanging matter and energy.