Dissipative structures in matter out of equilibrium: from chemistry, photonics and biology, the legacy of Ilya Prigogine (part 1)

Abstract

The idea of this theme issue emerged during the XIV international Workshop on Instabilities and Non-equilibrium Structures , which took place on 4–7 December 2017 in Valparaiso, Chile. This workshop, organized by the University of Chile and the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, was dedicated to the memory of Ilya Prigogine, who stimulated the development of research in the areas of nonlinear physics, non-equilibrium thermodynamics and statistical mechanics in South America, especially in Chile. There are two reasons to pay tribute to Ilya Prigogine in 2017. This year corresponds both to the centenary of his birth and to the 50th anniversary of his theory of dissipative structures . It was indeed in 1967, on the occasion of an important scientific meeting, that for the first time he explained this concept. The resounding progress he reported has been described as marking the end of the tyranny of equilibrium in thermodynamics. He not only increased our knowledge of the fundamental …