Author: Hans-georg Bartel Publisher: World Scientific ISBN: 9814479055 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 409
Book Description
More than 100 years ago, in 1905, Walther Nernst discovered the Third Law of Thermodynamics, thus completing this fundamental theory. In 1920 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The book describes the life of this pioneer of science, his major stations being Graz, then Göttingen, and finally Berlin. Also presented is a lively account of the development of low temperature physics by Nernst during the early days of quantum theory, when he was in Berlin, closely associated with Albert Einstein, Max Planck, and Max von Laue.The book outlines the specific advances achieved by Nernst in the thermodynamic concepts of theoretical chemistry. Written for a general readership, it can also serve as a supplement for courses in physics and chemistry. In addition to the role of science in the life of Nernst, the impact of the political turmoil in Germany before and after the advent of the 20th century is also told.
Author: Hans-Georg Bartel Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company ISBN: Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 416
Book Description
More than 100 years ago, in 1905, Walther Nernst discovered the Third Law of Thermodynamics, thus completing this fundamental theory. In 1920 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The book describes the life of this pioneer of science, his major stations being Graz, then Göttingen, and finally Berlin. Also presented is a lively account of the development of low temperature physics by Nernst during the early days of quantum theory, when he was in Berlin, closely associated with Albert Einstein, Max Planck, and Max von Laue.The book outlines the specific advances achieved by Nernst in the thermodynamic concepts of theoretical chemistry. Written for a general readership, it can also serve as a supplement for courses in physics and chemistry. In addition to the role of science in the life of Nernst, the impact of the political turmoil in Germany before and after the advent of the 20th century is also told.
Author: Diana Kormos Barkan Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 0521176298 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 303
Book Description
A 1999 biography of one of Germany's most important scientists (active 1890-1933) and an historical examination of physics and chemistry.
Author: Kurt Mendelssohn Publisher: Plunkett Lake Press ISBN: Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 261
Book Description
At the end of the 19th century, under the benevolent patronage of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Germany became home to new scientific and technological ideas. In German universities, innovators like Albert Einstein, Max Planck, Werner Heisenberg, Max Born, Erwin Schrödinger, Wolfgang Pauli and Walther Nernst revolutionized physics and chemistry with their theories of relativity, of the atomic structure and of the quanta. Walther Nernst, a founder of physical chemistry, received the Nobel prize in 1920 for his formulation of the third law of thermodynamics. He died in 1941 in Germany, disillusioned by Hitler’s destruction of German academic life. This biography of Walther Nernst, the author’s mentor, also provides an overview of German science and technology, from its stellar rise to its rapid fall when the Nazis came to power and the vast majority of German scientists went into exile to Britain (like the author), to the United States or elsewhere to continue the tradition and spirit of the scientific revolutions started in Germany’s institutions of higher learning. “A masterly description of the spectacular rise of German science and industry at the turn of the century and of life in Germany in the pre-1933 era.” — The Times (London) “Mendelssohn’s... fascinating book... is a study of the rise and fall of German science as well as a life of Walther Nernst... as he shows, the ‘mad fanaticism’ of the Nazis blinded them, and blinded them completely, to the enormous scientific potential they had inherited in the laboratories of Weimar Germany.” — Roger Williams, Encounter
Author: Jeffrey Orens Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1643137158 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 336
Book Description
A prismatic look at the meeting of Marie Curie and Albert Einstein and the impact these two pillars of science had on the world of physics, which was in turmoil. In 1911, some of the greatest minds in science convened at the First Solvay Conference in Physics, a meeting like no other. Almost half of the attendees had won or would go on to win the Nobel Prize. Over the course of those few days, these minds began to realize that classical physics was about to give way to quantum theory, a seismic shift in our history and how we understand not just our world, but the universe. At the center of this meeting were Marie Curie and a young Albert Einstein. In the years preceding, Curie had faced the death of her husband and soul mate, Pierre. She was on the cusp of being awarded her second Nobel Prize, but scandal erupted all around her when the French press revealed that she was having an affair with a fellow scientist, Paul Langevin. The subject of vicious misogynist and xenophobic attacks in the French press, Curie found herself in a storm that threatened her scientific legacy. Albert Einstein proved an supporter in her travails. They had an instant connection at Solvay. He was young and already showing flourishes of his enormous genius. Curie had been responsible for one of the greatest discoveries in modern science (radioactivity) but still faced resistance and scorn. Einstein recognized this grave injustice, and their mutual admiration and respect, borne out of this, their first meeting, would go on to serve them in their paths forward to making history. Curie and Einstein come alive as the complex people they were in the pages of The Soul of Genius. Utilizing never before seen correspondance and notes, Jeffrey Orens reveals the human side of these brilliant scientists, one who pushed boundaries and demanded equality in a man’s world, no matter the cost, and the other, who was destined to become synonymous with genius.
Author: Patrick Coffey Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199886547 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 400
Book Description
In Cathedrals of Science, Patrick Coffey describes how chemistry got its modern footing-how thirteen brilliant men and one woman struggled with the laws of the universe and with each other. They wanted to discover how the world worked, but they also wanted credit for making those discoveries, and their personalities often affected how that credit was assigned. Gilbert Lewis, for example, could be reclusive and resentful, and his enmity with Walther Nernst may have cost him the Nobel Prize; Irving Langmuir, gregarious and charming, "rediscovered" Lewis's theory of the chemical bond and received much of the credit for it. Langmuir's personality smoothed his path to the Nobel Prize over Lewis. Coffey deals with moral and societal issues as well. These same scientists were the first to be seen by their countries as military assets. Fritz Haber, dubbed the "father of chemical warfare," pioneered the use of poison gas in World War I-vividly described-and Glenn Seaborg and Harold Urey were leaders in World War II's Manhattan Project; Urey and Linus Pauling worked for nuclear disarmament after the war. Science was not always fair, and many were excluded. The Nazis pushed Jewish scientists like Haber from their posts in the 1930s. Anti-Semitism was also a force in American chemistry, and few women were allowed in; Pauling, for example, used his influence to cut off the funding and block the publications of his rival, Dorothy Wrinch. Cathedrals of Science paints a colorful portrait of the building of modern chemistry from the late 19th to the mid-20th century.
Author: René Schils Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 1461408598 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 171
Book Description
Features 25 different scientists and the ideas which may not have made them famous, but made history... Typically, we remember our greatest scientists from one single invention, one new formula or one incredible breakthrough. This narrow perspective does not give justice to the versatility of many scientists who also earned a reputation in other areas of science. James Watt, for instance, is known for inventing the steam engine, yet most people do not know that he also invented the copier. Alexander Graham Bell of course invented the telephone, but only few know that he invented artificial breathing equipment, a prototype of the ‘iron lung’. Edmond Halley, whose name is associated with the comet that visits Earth every 75 years, produced the first mortality tables, used for life insurances. This entertaining book is aimed at anyone who enjoys reading about inventions and discoveries by the most creative minds. Detailed illustrations of the forgotten designs and ideas enrich the work throughout.
Author: Bretislav Friedrich Publisher: Springer Nature ISBN: 3030639630 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 639
Book Description
This Open Access book gives a comprehensive account of both the history and current achievements of molecular beam research. In 1919, Otto Stern launched the revolutionary molecular beam technique. This technique made it possible to send atoms and molecules with well-defined momentum through vacuum and to measure with high accuracy the deflections they underwent when acted upon by transversal forces. These measurements revealed unforeseen quantum properties of nuclei, atoms, and molecules that became the basis for our current understanding of quantum matter. This volume shows that many key areas of modern physics and chemistry owe their beginnings to the seminal molecular beam work of Otto Stern and his school. Written by internationally recognized experts, the contributions in this volume will help experienced researchers and incoming graduate students alike to keep abreast of current developments in molecular beam research as well as to appreciate the history and evolution of this powerful method and the knowledge it reveals.
Author: Raymond Kapral Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 9401111561 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 641
Book Description
The concept of macroscopic waves and patterns developing from chemical reaction coupling with diffusion was presented, apparently for the first time, at the Main Meeting of the Deutsche Bunsengesellschaft fur Angewandte Physikalische Chemie, held in Dresden, Germany from May 21 to 24, 1906. Robert Luther, Director of the Physical Chemistry Laboratory in Leipzig, read his paper on the discovery and analysis of propagating reaction-diffusion fronts in autocatalytic chemical reactions [1, 2]. He presented an equation for the velocity of these new waves, V = a(KDC)1/2, and asserted that they might have features in common with propagating action potentials in nerve cell axons. During the discussion period, a skeptic in the audience voiced his objections to this notion. It was none other than the great physical chemist Walther Nernst, who believed that nerve impulse propagation was far too rapid to be akin to the propagating fronts. He was also not willing to accept Luther's wave velocity equation without a derivation. Luther stood his ground, saying his equation was "a simple consequence of the corresponding differential equation. " He described several different autocatalytic reactions that exhibit propagating fronts (recommending gelling the solution to prevent convection) and even presented a demonstration: the autocatalytic permanganate oxidation of oxalate was carried out in a test tube with the image of the front projected onto a screen for the audience.