Nobel Prize Laureate Scientist. He was awarded the 1920 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He studied mathematics and physics at the Universities of Berlin, Graz, Zurich, and Würzburg. He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1887 from the University of Würzburg and his Habilitation from the University of Leipzig in 1889. After a short stay at the University of Heidelberg, he moved to the University of Göttingen in 1890, where he was to found the Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry. His work often had practical applications, such as his 1897 invention of the Nernst lamp, a predecessor of the tungsten light bulb known today. Theoretically, he was responsible for establishing what later would become known as the Third Law of Thermodynamics: the behavior of matter at absolute zero. The Nernst equation relates the electric gradient to the concentration gradient. He moved to Berlin in 1905, as Professor of Chemistry, and led the Department of Physical Chemistry there from 1924 until 1932. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1920 for his electrochemical research. He was a scientific advisor to the German Army in World War I, for which he received the Iron Cross First Class, and was likely involved in research into chemical warfare. However he was anti-Nazi and was forced to retire in 1933. He was a co-founder of the German Electrochemical Society (today the Bunsen Society) and a leading figure in the development of Physical Chemistry as a separate discipline.
Nobel Prize Laureate Scientist. He was awarded the 1920 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He studied mathematics and physics at the Universities of Berlin, Graz, Zurich, and Würzburg. He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1887 from the University of Würzburg and his Habilitation from the University of Leipzig in 1889. After a short stay at the University of Heidelberg, he moved to the University of Göttingen in 1890, where he was to found the Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry. His work often had practical applications, such as his 1897 invention of the Nernst lamp, a predecessor of the tungsten light bulb known today. Theoretically, he was responsible for establishing what later would become known as the Third Law of Thermodynamics: the behavior of matter at absolute zero. The Nernst equation relates the electric gradient to the concentration gradient. He moved to Berlin in 1905, as Professor of Chemistry, and led the Department of Physical Chemistry there from 1924 until 1932. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1920 for his electrochemical research. He was a scientific advisor to the German Army in World War I, for which he received the Iron Cross First Class, and was likely involved in research into chemical warfare. However he was anti-Nazi and was forced to retire in 1933. He was a co-founder of the German Electrochemical Society (today the Bunsen Society) and a leading figure in the development of Physical Chemistry as a separate discipline.
Bio by: Kenneth Gilbert
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