The volume includes Onsager's previously unpublished PhD thesis, a biography by H C Longuet-Higgins and M E Fisher, an autobiographical commentary, selected photographs, and a list of Onsager discussion remarks in print.

Onsager's scientific achievements were characterized by deep insights into the natural sciences. His two best-known accomplishments are his reciprocal relations for irreversible processes, for which he received the 1968 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and his explicit solution of the two-dimensional Ising model, a mathematical tour de force that created a sensation when it appeared. In addition, he made significant theoretical contributions to other fields, including electrolytes, colloids, superconductivity, turbulence, ice, electrons in metals, and dielectrics.

In this volume, Onsager's contributions are divided into the following fields: irreversible processes; the Ising model; electrolytes; colloids; helium II and vortex quantization; off-diagonal long-range order and flux quantization; electrons in metal; turbulence; ion recombination; fluctuation theory; dielectrics; ice and water; biology; Mathieu functions. The different fields are evaluated by leading experts. The commentators are P W Anderson, R Askey, A Chorin, C Domb, R J Donnelly, W Ebeling, J-C Justice, H N W Lekkerkerker, P Mazur, H P McKean, J F Nagle, T Odijk, A B Pippard, G Stell, G H Weiss, and C N Yang.

Readership: Mathematical, statistical & condensed matter physicists, chemists and biologists.

"It is rare that a scientist is simultaneously powerful in mathematical analysis and in physical insight. Lars Onsager was one such person. His research ranged over mathematics, physics and chemistry. His Collected Works with Commentary is a very impressive volume edited by Hemmer, Holden and Kjelstrup Ratkje, recently published by World Scientific. It vividly exhibits the range of Onsager's contributions and brings out also Onsager's distinctive style as a person and as a professor. I highly recommend it to every theoretical chemist and every theoretical physicist."

"The variety of subjects covered by the book is really impressive, and most of the articles represent a seminal contribution of the author to the corresponding field of physics. They are still extremely relevant for the contemporary researchers working in these fields."

"... a man of penetrating insight into matters of chemistry and physics, and a mathematical technician of astonishing power ... extremely valuable to have all his writings collected together and accompanied by brief commentaries by experts."

"World Scientific is adding a monumental volume to its already outstanding World Scientific Series in 20th Century Physics ... It is a special merit of this publication that it makes available and easily accessible to the present generation of physicists and chemists the work of one of the very great scientists of the 20th century."

"The volume adds significantly to the chronicles of 20th century science."

"This volume should be valuable resource material not only in university and departmental libraries but also on the shelves of many individual scientists."