Boltzmann’s reply to the Loschmidt paradox: a commented translation

Boltzmann’s reply to Loschmidt’s reversibility paradox (1877) has baffled many readers, owing to imprecise language and unproven assumptions. Based on a new translation and detailed commentary, it will be shown that this text nevertheless contains the essentials of a correct, insightful interpretation of thermodynamic irreversibility in statistico-mechanical context.