The story
Due to John G. Kirkwood and Frank P. Buff.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Today it means: A theory that links macroscopic (bulk) properties to microscopic (molecular) details, using statistical mechanics to derive thermodynamic quantities from pair correlation functions between all molecules in a multi-component solution. Full definition →
Due to John G. Kirkwood and Frank P. Buff.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.