It is pointed out that thermodynamics is a useful subject in widely varying fields, such as engineering, chemistry, and physics. It is, however, used in such different ways by scientists in these fields, that one group hardly recognizes what the other is doing. Some of the controversies in the nomenclature of thermodynamics are mentioned and some of the changing styles in thermodynamics are explained in terms of the thermocouple. Some unfortunate tendencies in the teaching of thermodynamics are deplored. The author ends with a tribute to many of his former students.

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