Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz 
Definition of A (for arbeit):
 
where U is the internal energy, T is the temperature and S is the entropy.
(TS) is a conjugate pair. The differential of this function is
 
From the Second law of thermodynamics  one obtains
 
thus one arrives at
 
leading finally to 
 
For A(T,V) one has the following total differential
 
Good for use in the Canonical ensemble.