Thermodynamics is the science of the flow of heat. So, thermo is heat, and dynamic is the motion of heat. Thermodynamics was developed largely beginning in the 1800's, at the time of the Industrial Revolution. So, taming of steel. The beginning of generating power by burning fossil fuels. The beginning with the problems with carbon dioxide and global warming. In fact, it's interesting to note that the first calculation on the impact of the carbon dioxide on climate was done in the late 1800's by Arrhenius. Beginning of a generation of power moving heat from fossil fuels to generating energy, locomotives, etc. So, he calculated what would happen to this burning of fossil fuels, and he decided in his calculation, he basically got the calculation right, by the way, but he came out that in 2,000 years from the time that he did the calculations, human would be in trouble.