Meanings
- computingThe principle that any logically irreversible manipulation of information must entail an increase in the entropy of the information-processing apparatus or its environment.
Landauer's principle remained untested for over fifty years.
2017, Momčilo Gavrilov, Experiments on the Thermodynamics of Information Processing, Springer, page 722 more examples
2018, Michael P. Frank, Physical Foundations of Landauer's Principle, Jarkko Kari, Irek Ulidowski (editors), Reversible Computation: 10th International Conference, Proceedings, Springer, LNCS, page 5, Thus, the usual arguments for Landauer's Principle and reversible computing that do not address this case are overly simplistic; later, we will discuss how to generalize and repair them.
Equation (2.27) is often referred to as Landauer's principle. In retrospect, one could object that Landauer's principle is a mere tautology. If one accepts the notion of Shannon entropy as non-equilibrium thermodynamic entropy, then Landauer's principle is nothing but the second law (2.24) of non-equilibrium thermodynamics applied to a special situation.
2022, Philipp Strasberg, Quantum Stochastic Thermodynamics, Oxford University Press, page 53
Origin
Named after German-American physicist Rolf Landauer (1927–1999), who proposed it in 1961.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French principe de Landauer
- principe de Landauerprinciple that an irreversible manipulation of information always entails an increase in entropy
German Landauer-Prinzip
- Landauer-Prinzipprinciple that an irreversible manipulation of information always entails an increase in entropy
Cite this entry
Landauer's principle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Landauer's%20principle
“Landauer's principle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Landauer's%20principle. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Landauer's principle,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Landauer's%20principle.
Source: Landauer's principle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.