Paul Langevin Created 2026-10-24 Updated 2026-11-05
Paul Langevin described Brownian motion through a force balance containing drag and rapidly fluctuating molecular forces. In modern notation, the Langevin equation combines damping with a random force. At thermal equilibrium, the relation between fluctuations and drag gives the long-time diffusion coefficient , where is the Boltzmann constant, is temperature, and is the linear drag coefficient. His 1908 note recovers the displacement law developed by Albert Einstein through this mechanical route, connecting irregular microscopic forces with a predictable statistical diffusion law.[ref]
Figure 1.
Portrait of Paul Langevin
. Photographer not identified; Wellcome Library/Collection, London, image V0028220; existing Langevin portrait crop. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source.