Short answers, pulled from the story.
Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws of thermodynamics.
The French physicist Sadi Carnot is remembered as the father of thermodynamics. He published Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire in 1824, a discourse on heat, power, energy, and engine efficiency that marked the start of thermodynamics as a modern science.
The zeroth law states that two systems each in thermal equilibrium with a third are in equilibrium with each other. The first law expresses conservation of energy. The second law states that heat does not spontaneously flow from a colder body to a hotter one. The third law states that as temperature approaches absolute zero, entropy approaches a minimum.
The zeroth law was named zero because it arrived late. The first, second, and third laws had already been stated and accepted before physicists realized the zeroth law was needed to define temperature. Renumbering the others was impractical, so it was named the zeroth law.
Rudolf Clausius named the concept of entropy in 1865. The German physicist and mathematician first stated the second law of thermodynamics in his 1850 paper On the Moving Force of Heat, and he is called one of the founding fathers of thermodynamics.
Absolute zero is the temperature at which all activity would stop if it could be achieved. It equals minus 273.15 degrees Celsius, minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit, 0 kelvin, or 0 degrees Rankine. The third law states it is impossible to reach absolute zero by any finite number of processes.