When the mathematician Ernst Zermelo published a critique in 1896, for instance, Boltzmann began his defense, “Zermelo’s paper shows that my writings have been misunderstood; nevertheless it pleases me for it seems to be the first indication that these writings have been paid any attention in Germany.” Nonetheless, Boltzmann was still capable of original thought. His rebuttal of Zermelo contained many remarkable ideas, the most striking of which is the first statement from scientific reasoning alone that the universe must have originated in a single moment of creation.
