analysed in linear response theory. A remarkable result, as formalized by the fluctuation–dissipation theorem, is that the response of a system when near equilibrium is precisely related to the fluctuations that occur when the system is in total equilibrium. Essentially, a system that is slightly away from equilibrium—whether put there by external forces or by fluctuations—relaxes towards equilibrium in the same way, since the system cannot tell the difference or "know" how it came to be away from equilibrium. This provides an indirect avenue for obtaining numbers such as ohmic conductivity and thermal conductivity by extracting results from equilibrium statistical mechanics. Since equilibrium statistical mechanics is mathematically well defined and (in some cases) more amenable for calculations, the fluctuation–dissipation connection can be a convenient shortcut for calculations in near-equilibrium statistical mechanics. A few of the theoretical tools used to make this connection include: Fluctuation–dissipation theorem Onsager reciprocal relations Green–Kubo relations Landauer–Büttiker formalism Mori–Zwanzig formalism Hybrid methods An advanced approach uses a combination of stochastic methods and linear response theory. As an example, one approach to compute quantum coherence effects (weak localization, conductance fluctuations) in the conductance of an electronic system is the use of the Green–Kubo relations, with the inclusion of stochastic dephasing by interactions between various electrons by use of the Keldysh method. Applications outside thermodynamics The ensemble formalism also can be used to analyze general mechanical systems with uncertainty in knowledge about the state of a system. Ensembles are also used in: propagation of uncertainty over time, regression analysis of gravitational orbits, ensemble forecasting of weather, dynamics of neural networks, bounded-rational potential games in game theory and economics. Analytical and computational techniques derived from statistical physics of disordered systems, can be extended to large-scale problems, including machine learning, e.g., to analyze the weight space of deep neural networks. Statistical physics is thus finding applications in the area of medical diagnostics. History In 1738, Swiss physicist and mathematician Daniel Bernoulli published Hydrodynamica which laid the basis for the kinetic theory of gases. In this work, Bernoulli posited the argument, still used to this day, that gases consist of great numbers of molecules moving in all directions, that their impact on a surface causes the gas pressure that we feel, and that what we experience as heat is simply the kinetic energy of their motion. In 1859, after reading a paper on the diffusion of molecules by Rudolf Clausius, Scottish