*** Welcome to piglix ***

Walther Nernst

Walther Nernst
Walther Nernst 1900s.jpg
Born Walther Hermann Nernst
(1864-06-25)25 June 1864
Briesen, West Prussia (now Wąbrzeźno, Poland)
Died 18 November 1941(1941-11-18) (aged 77)
Zibelle, Lusatia, Germany (now Niwica, Poland)
Nationality German
Fields Chemistry
Institutions University of Göttingen
University of Berlin
University of Leipzig
Alma mater University of Zürich
University of Berlin
University of Graz
University of Würzburg
Doctoral advisor Friedrich Kohlrausch
Other academic advisors Ludwig Boltzmann
Doctoral students Sir Frances Simon
Richard Abegg
Irving Langmuir
Leonid Andrussow
Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer
Frederick Lindemann
William Duane
Other notable students Gilbert N. Lewis
Max Bodenstein
Robert von Lieben
Kurt Mendelssohn
Theodor Wulf
Emil Bose
Hermann Irving Schlesinger
Claude Hudson
Known for Third Law of Thermodynamics
Nernst lamp
Nernst equation
Nernst glower
Nernst effect
Nernst heat theorem
Nernst potential
Nernst–Planck equation
Influenced J. R. Partington
Notable awards Nobel Prize in chemistry (1920)
Franklin Medal (1928)
Signature

Walther Hermann Nernst, ForMemRS (25 June 1864 – 18 November 1941) was a German chemist who is known for his theories behind the calculation of chemical affinity as embodied in the third law of thermodynamics, for which he won the 1920 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Nernst helped establish the modern field of physical chemistry and contributed to electrochemistry, thermodynamics and solid state physics. He is also known for developing the Nernst equation.

Nernst was born in Briesen in West Prussia (now Wąbrzeźno, Poland) as son of Gustav Nernst (1827–1888) and Ottilie Nerger (1833–1876). His father was a country judge. Nernst had three older sisters and one younger brother. The third sister died due to cholera. Nernst went to elementary school at Graudenz. He studied physics and mathematics at the universities of Zürich, Berlin, Graz and Würzburg, where he received his doctorate 1887. In 1889, he finished his habilitation at University of Leipzig.

It was said that Nernst was mechanically minded in that he was always thinking of ways to apply new discoveries to industry. Nernst's hobbies included hunting and fishing.


...
Wikipedia

...