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WALTHER NERNST

1864-1941

T he little town of Prenzlau not far from Berlin was for many generations the home of the Nernst family. One of its scions, grandson of the Lutheran pastor there in Napoleonic times, settled on the land and farmed a large estate on the Royal domains. It was here that Gustav Nernst, the father of the great scientist, was born. He joined the Prussian civil service and became a judge. While he was posted at Briesen, in West Prussia, his wife, nee Ottilie Nerger, gave birth on 25 June, 1864, to their third child, christened Walther Hermann.

Originally Walther Nernst seemed likely to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors. He was deeply interested in classics and literature and indeed at one time desired to become a poet. But his chemistry master at Graudenz Gymnasium inspired him with a love of that subject. As boys will, he gradually got together materials for a small laboratory in the cellar of his father’s house and thence­forward to the day of his death his allegiance to science never wavered. Though he passed out of the Gymnasium as head of the school and his Latin composition ranked as one of the best of the year, he devoted his time at the university entirely to natural science. He attended courses at the universities of Zurich, Wuerzburg and Graz where Professor von Ettinghausen especially exercised a great influence upon him. Having taken his degree under Friedrich Kohlrausch at Wuerzburg in 1886 he worked with Ostwald at Leipzig for some years where his interest in the then border-line subject between physics and chemistry, crystallised. In 1891, he became Reader in Physics at Gottingen where a year later he married Emma Lohmeyer, the daughter of a distinguished surgeon. In 1894 he was invited to accept a chair at Munich, but he preferred to remain at Gottingen. Here the university built him a new physico-chemical laboratory and he became the first professor of that subject. He was nominated Geheimrat in 1904 and a year later became Professor of Physical Chemistry in Berlin. He remained in the capital for the rest of his official life. For two years (1922-1924) he was President of the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt, but the call of the university was too strong and he returned as Professor of Physics and Director of the Physical Laboratory in 1924 until his retirement in 1934.

Walther Nernst undoubtedly possessed one of the most versatile and original minds of his generation. There was no subject in science or every-day life in which he was not interested and there was scarcely one to which he was not able to make a brilliant contribution. Nor did his love of literature ever leave him. He seldom missed an opportunity of seeing a play by Shakespeare. It is even said that a play of his was produced in Berlin in 1899. He was extremely fond of travelling and had not only visited practically every country in Europe but also both Americas.

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Nernst was singularly free from prejudices and although possessed by a deep love for his country he never adopted the narrow-minded, nationalistic attitude all too often found in his colleagues. In many respects he was the very antithesis of the popular idea of a German professor. He was almost the first man to run a motor car in Gottingen at the end of the last century. And many still recall how on coming to a steep hill, which defeated most of the ramshackle vehicles of that day, he delighted to turn the tap of an N 20 cylinder which he carried on the car, thus injecting laughing gas into the mixture, so that he could sail up the slope to the astonishment of his passengers. He was extremely keen on shooting and nothing gave him greater pleasure than to take out a party of guests and guns on his estate. This he farmed with all the resource and ingenuity to be expected from a keen physical chemist; whether his contention, based on the second law of thermodynamics, that cold-blooded creatures like carp should be a better investment than warm-blooded farm stock, was proved true in the balance sheet has never been ascertained.

A man of his enterprise and initiative could not stay at home when the war broke out in 1914, and his two sons, neither of whom returned, left for the front. He got taken on as an army driver, and participated in his little car in the great German rush through Belgium into France. He had some hand in the intro­duction of gas warfare, which he always maintained was the most humane way of using shells, and for this reason he was placed on the list of those to be extradited in 1919.

He took an immense interest in all technical applications of scientific know­ledge. For twenty years little change had been made in the very inefficient carbon filaments of incandescent lamps. Nernst realised what scope there was for im­provement and in 1904 brought out the Nernst lamp, in which the carbon filament was replaced by a mixture of oxides of the rare earths. The technical difficulties inherent in the negative temperature co-efficient were overcome with great ingenuity and the lamp, which was twice as efficient as the carbon filament lamp, would no doubt have been universally adopted had it not been superseded a few years later by the tungsten lamp after means had been found of swaging and drawing filaments of this intractable material. Fortunately he had some reward for his labours as the patents had been sold outright, a fact which is said to have changed profoundly Edison’s ideas about the famed ‘unpractical’ outlook of university professors.

About 1922 it struck Nernst that modern methods of sound production should not be neglected in the concert hall. There seemed no reason why all the para­phernalia of a grand piano should be required when the same sounds could be produced on a small scale and amplified to any desired volume. From this idea, the Neo-Bechstein piano, which was demonstrated in many concert rooms in the thirties, was evolved and but for the slump it might have been a great success. It is perhaps of interest to recall that the pure notes which are produced when a string is struck lightly and which could be amplified to the desired volume in forte passages, did not prove satisfactory to musicians accustomed to

Obituary Notices

Walther Nernst 103the harsh overtones produced when the key is struck firmly, and these had to be added artificially to satisfy public taste.

But of course all these were only side lines. Throughout his life, Nernst’s main and abiding interest was pure research. In his early work with Professor von Ettinghausen they discovered the effect, given their joint names, that a magnetic field applied perpendicular to a temperature gradient gives rise to a potential difference in a metallic conductor. This discovery, together with the corresponding thermo-magnetic and galvano-magnetic effects, proved of great importance for the development of the theory of electrons in metals.

There followed, at first under the influence of Ostwald, a period of pre­occupation with purely physico-chemical problems. Nernst’s theory of the galvanic cell was a remarkable achievement and laid the foundations of his world fame. For the first time it proved possible to work out electro-motive forces from first principles and to show their direct relation with the gas constant. He did much to unravel the phenomena of electrolysis with all the complications of over-voltage and transition resistance, and the series of important papers on these matters under his name added lustre to the Natural Science School at Gottingen in his day. Nernst’s theory of nerve excitation which was developed in connexion with these researches is a typical example of his faculty for seeing relations between fields of knowledge which at first sight seem wide apart.

It was in this period that Nernst wrote his Theoretical Chemistry. The first edition in 1893 was followed by a continuous series of new editions and of trans­lations into many languages. It is difficult to over-estimate the influence this book has had on the education and outlook of chemists, physicists and biologists up to the early twenties of this century, and thus on the development of these sciences. The following sentence, taken from a very recent review in an American periodical of one of the modern co-operative attempts to cover the field, characterises well the situation:

‘If Mr Gallup were to poll the country’s middle-aged physical chemists for the book that had the greatest influence on their professional training the returns would very likely show Nernst’s Theoretical Chemistry to be it, although the younger generation seems to be hardly better acquainted with this book than they are with the Bible!’

During his last years in Gottingen and practically the whole of his time in Berlin up to the world war Nernst devoted himself to elucidating the one question not yet solved by classical thermodynamics, a problem attacked without success by many of his eminent contemporaries, namely, the calculation of equilibria from thermal data. Close study of existing data led him to the hypo­thesis that the curves for the heat energy and the affinity approached one another asymptotically in the neighbourhood of the absolute zero. With characteristic boldness Nernst enunciated this theorem, which has since become known as the ‘Third Law of Thermo-dynamics’, in 1905. The following decade was devoted to testing it. This involved an elaborate series of researches on the specific heats of substances at low temperatures on which he embarked with typical thoroughness and skill. His method of suspending the substance to be examined in a vacuum

I04 Obituary Noticesand measuring electrically the change of temperature produced by a known amount of electrical energy, enabled him to determine the specific heat at a given temperature rather than over a considerable range. But it was necessary to extend his investigations to the neighbourhood of the absolute zero. He visited Kamerlingh Onnes in Leiden, but decided that the immense elaboration of his liquid hydrogen plant was quite beyond the financial and other resources of the Berlin laboratory. He, therefore, set about devising a simple liquefier. This liquefier, costing only about £20, enabled him to produce in some hours quite enough hydrogen for his purpose.

His investigations revealed that the specific heat curves of the simpler sub­stances showed a remarkable similarity and indeed could all be made to coincide if measured at ‘corresponding temperatures’. When it was shown that these curves approximated to the form predicted by Einstein on the basis of the quantum theory and furthermore that the characteristic temperatures could be derived from the same point of view, Nernst realized that his theorem was closely linked with Planck’s quanta and set himself to elucidate the relationship. He spent a whole Easter vacation visiting Einstein and Sommerfeld and going for long walks with Planck discussing these matters. It was a common saying in the laboratory at the time that he had joined the Peripatetic school of philosophy. As usual, he refused to be content with purely mathematical abstractions. He had to try to visualise the phenomena. Even if he went rather far in this and his idea of kinetic energy in whole quanta and potential in half shocked the purists, the specific heat formula with the two terms separated by an octave, which he endeavoured to explain in this way, gave an amazingly accurate representation of the facts. Though, of course, these matters have been enormously clarified, it was a day of triumph for Nernst when he was able to represent the specific heats of the simpler substances at all temperatures within the limits of experimental error without introducing any specific constant. The fact that they vanished at the absolute zero led, of course, almost automatically to his Heat Theorem. As he said at a lecture at the Academy of Science, ‘If anyone disputes the theorem I must ask him in the first place to fight it out with Messrs Einstein and Planck. If he succeeds in defeating them, I will go into action’.

Things, however, did not prove to be quite as simple as had at first appeared and difficulties arose over systems containing mixed phases, such as mixed crystals and solutions, and those containing glasses. These problems were hotly disputed in the twenties; finally a formulation was found which showed the general validity of the Heat Theorem as a law of Thermodynamics. Nernst himself took relatively little part in these researches, but he was always convinced that in the end his Theorem would turn out to be a general law of nature. So complete was his conviction that soon after the first enunciation of the theorem, which he had restricted to condensed phases only, he extended it to include gases. At first he had bypassed this problem (Chemical Constants) but soon he attacked it frontally and made the revolutionary assumption that the specific heats of perfect gases would tend to zero with falling temperature. He postulated therefore a state of ‘degeneracy’ which would occur in gases at very low tempera-

Walther Nernst 105tures. The incredulity of many of his colleagues soon disappeared when the progress of quantum theory justified his intuition and particularly when it was shown that the electrons in metals present an example of this degeneracy at much higher temperatures. To-day the ‘degenerate’ gas is familiar to every one concerned with the theory of metals; more recently astrophysicists have shown that matter under the conditions of temperature and pressure prevailing in the interior of most stars is in the state of a ‘degenerate’ gas.

After the war Nernst’s interests turned first to photochemistry. It was only a brief interlude, but science owes to it the idea of the ‘Chain Reaction’. His almost infallible flair for the ways of Nature had led him to this most fruitful and important conception from the very scanty information available at that time— in much the same way as he had felt his way to the Third Law.

After his return from the Reichsanstalt to the university his scientific interests turned more and more to cosmogeny. He was fascinated by the possibility of overcoming the ‘Warmetod’ and investigated all possible hypothesis which might explain it away. This implied the emergence from time to time of con­centrations of energy which he was prepared to regard as fluctuations in the zero point energy in space or ether. Once this was granted, of course, the rest could be derived. The stellar sequence, the redshift, and so on, he en­deavoured to unite in a simple theoretical synthesis. There is no denying that a plain and intelligible picture was limned though some of the assumptions are startling in their boldness. Nernst never had a slavish respect for the premises of theoretical physicists; he was content if hypotheses led to new investigations. And this his suggestions certainly did. He became very early convinced of the fundamental importance of cosmic ray research, and although personally not an active participant in the experiments proper, he did everything to foster work in this field by grants for personnel and equipment.

Nernst always took a great part in the organization of scientific research. It was chiefly his influence with Solvay which led to the creation of the ‘Solvay Conferences’ which played such a conspicuous role in the development of modern physics. It was he who was responsible for Einstein being offered a post at the Berlin Academy of Sciences with the ensuing enrichment of scientific life there. But his greatest achievement in this field was his part in the creation of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes. These research establishments exerted a profound influence on the progress of pure and applied science in Germany, particularly in the difficult years following the war of 1914-1918. Nernst rightly regarded the Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft as his child and it was therefore particularly humiliating and painful to him when soon after the Nazis came into power, he was informed that his attendance at meetings of the governing body was no longer welcome.

Nernst received and enjoyed his due share of honours: the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1920, the order ‘Pour le Merite’ (corresponding to the Order of Merit), the highest honour of his country, the foreign membership of the Royal Society (1932). He was always very fond of Great Britain. As early as 1899 he was made an honorary member of the Royal Institution; one of the last honours he

i°6 Obituary Noticesreceived and one which he appreciated very much was the honorary degree of Doctor of Science of the University of Oxford, which was bestowed on him in 1937. This was the last occasion on which he visited this country.

Nernst’s influence on the scientific life of his time was by no means confined to his published work. He gathered round him in his laboratories the elite of the young physical-chemists, and a great many leaders of science and industry not only in Germany but also in the United States and in this country have either been his pupils or have at least spent some time in his laboratories in Gottingen or Berlin.

His influence on them was not so much through his lectures as through personal contact during experiments and in his home. His courses tended to be rather unsystematic and beginners sometimes failed to reap the full benefit from them, although they certainly all enjoyed his vivid turns of phrase and the flood of personal anecdotes and jokes with which he spiced them. But all his pupils will remember gratefully the advanced lectures in which he revealed to them the most recent advances in his subject, so often intimately connected with his own work, and imbued them with his own enthusiasm for exploring the dim shades which cloud the border line of knowledge.

After retiring from his chair, Nernst spent the remaining years of his life mainly at his country place in Silesia, where he alternated between the quiet pursuits of a country gentleman and elaborate investigations and speculations about stellar origins and the thermodynamics of the universe. He was much distressed by the impending outbreak of war, especially as two of his daughters, who were married to men of ‘non-aryan’ origin, were living abroad. The delight­ful family circle had been broken up; only his devoted wife remained his un­failing support throughout fifty years of affectionate married life. Nothing is known about his last years, only the fact that he died suddenly of heart failure in November 1941.

On those who knew him, Nernst made an unforgettable impression. His quickness to seize a new idea, his profundity in apprehending its applications, his clarity in presenting the most intricate trains of thought, marked him out amongst the scientists of his time. Though he did not suffer fools gladly he was an excellent friend to those who were able to appreciate him, and his pupils who remember his kindness and sense of humour, his generosity and devotion to their interests, will for ever gratefully treasure his memory.

Cherwell F. S imon

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Scientific Papers

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Walther Nernst 1071887. Ueber die elektromotorischen Kraefte, welche durch den Magnetismus in von

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Phys. 45, 353-359.------ Ueber die mit der Vermischung konzentrierter Loesungen verbundene Aenderung

der freien Energie. Nachr. Ges. Wiss. Goettingen, 428-438.1893. Osmotischer Druck in Gemischen zweier Loesungsmittel. Z. phys. Chem. 11, 1-6. ------ Ueber die Beteiligung eines Loesungsmittels an chemischen Reaktionen. Z. phys.

Chem. 11, 345-351.------ (With C. H ohmann.) Bildung der Amylester aus Sauren und Amylen. Z. phys.

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io8 Obituary Notices1894. (With P. D rude.) Elektrostriktion durch freie Ionen. Z. phys. Chem. 15, 79-85.

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Z. Elektrochem. 6, 41-43.------ Zur Theorie der elektrischen Reizung. Nachr. Ges. Wiss. Goettingen, 104-108.1900. (With P. D olezalek.) Ueber die Gaspolarisation im Bleiakkumulator. Z. Elektro­

chem. 6, 549—550.------ Ueber Elektrodenpotentiale. Z. Elektrochem. 7, 253-255.------ (With E. Bose.) Zur Theorie des Auerlichtes. Phys. Z. 1, 289-291.------ (With H. Reynolds.) Ueber die Leitfaehigkeit fester Mischungen bei hohen

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flaeche zweier Loesungsmittel. Nachr. Ges. Wiss. Goettingen, 54-61.------ (With R. v. L ieben.) Ueber ein neues phonographisches Prinzip. Z. Elektrotech.

7, 553-554.1902. (With A. Lessing.) Ueber die Wanderung galvanischer Polarisation durch Platin-

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Chem. 45, 126-131.------ Physikalisch-chemische Betrachtungen ueber den Verbrennungsprozess in den

Gasmotoren. Z. Ver. dtsch. Ing. 49, 1426-1431.------ (With H. H ausrath.) Zur Bestimmung der Gefrierpunkte verduennter Loesun-

gen. Ann. Phys. (4) 17, 1018—1020.------ (With E. S. M erriam.) Zur Theorie des Reststromes. Z. phys. Chem. 53, 235-244.------ (With K. Jellinek.) Zur Bildung des Wasserstoffsuperoxyds bei hohen Tempera­

turen. Z. Elektrochem. 11, 710-713.------ (With H. v. W artenberg.) Dissoziation des Wasserdampfes. Nachr. Ges. Wiss.

Goettingen, 35—45.------ (With H. v. W artenberg.) Ueber die Dissoziation der Kohlensaeure. Nachr. Ges.

Wiss. Goettingen, 64—74.1906. (With H. v. W artenberg.) Die Dissoziation von Wasserdampf. II. Z. phys. Chem.

56, 534-547.------ (With H. v. Wartenberg.) Ueber die Dissoziation der Kohlensaeure. Z. phys.

Chem. 56, 548-557.------ Ueber die Bildung von Stickoxyd bei hohen Temperaturen. Z. anorg. Chem. 49,

213-228.------ Ueber die Helligkeit gluehender, schwarzer Koerper und ueber ein einfaches

Pyrometer. Phys. Z. 7, 380—383.------ (With H. v. W artenberg.) Ueber den Schmelzpunkt des Platins und Palladium.

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H O Obituary Notices1909. Ueber die trocknende Kraft der galvanischen Endosmose. Verh. dtsch. tohvs

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------ Sur la determination de l’affinite chimique k partir des donees thermiques.J. Chim. Phys. 8, 228—267.

------ Thermodynamische Berechnung des Dampfdruckes von Wasser und Eis. Ver.dtsch. phys. Ges. 12, 565-571.

------ Neuere Entwicklung der Theorie der galvanischen Elemente. Z. Elektrochem. 16,517-522.

------ Zur Theorie der anisotropen Fluessigkeiten. Z. Elektrochem. 16, 702-707.1911. (Part V with F. A. L indemann.) Untersuchungen ueber die spezifische Waerme

bei tiefen Temperaturen. S. B. preuss. Akad. Wiss. III. 306-315; V. 494-501.------ Zur Theorie* der Spezifischen Waerme und ueber Anwendung der Lehre von

den Energiequanten auf physikalisch-chemische Fragen ueberhaupt. Z. Elektrochem. 17, 265—275.

------ (With F. A. L indemann.) Spezifische Waerme und Quantentheorie. Z. Elektro­chem. 17, 817—827.

------ Ueber neuere Probleme der Waermetheorie. S. B. preuss. Akad. Wiss. 65-90Scientia, Bologna, 10, 278-306.

------ Der Energieinhalt fester Stoffe. Ann. Phys. (4), 36, 395-439.------ Ueber ein allgemeines Gesetz, das Verhalten fester Stoffe bei sehr tiefen Tempera­

turen betreffend. Phys. Z. 12, 976—978.------ Ueber einen Apparat zur Verfluessigung von Wasserstoff. Z. Elektrochem. 17,

735-737.------ Introduction to certain fundamental principles of modem physics. J. Franklin

Inst. 171, 501-517.1912. Thermodynamik und Spezifische Waerme. S. B. preuss. Akad. Wiss. 134—140. ------ (With F. A. L indemann.) Untersuchungen ueber die spezifische Waerme. VI.

Berechnung von Atomwaermen. S. B. preuss. Akad. Wiss. 1160—1171.------ Untersuchungen ueber die spezifische Waerme bei tiefen Temperaturen. VII.

Zur Berechnung chemischer Affinitaeten. S. B. preuss. Akad. Wiss. 1172-1176. ------ Der Energieinhalt der Gase. Phys. Z. 13, 1064—1068.------ Zur neueren Entwicklung der Thermodynamik. Verh. Ges. dtsch. Naturf. Aerzt.

100-116.1913. Zur Thermodynamik kondensierter Systeme. S. B. preuss. Akad. Wiss. 972—985. ------ Das Gleichgewichtsdiagramm der beiden Schwefelmodifikationen. Z. phys.

Chem. 83, 546-550.------ Ueber den Maximalen Nutzeffekt von Verbrennungsmotoren. Z. Elektrochem. 19,

699-702.1914. Ueber die Anwendung des neuen Waermesatzes auf Gase. Z. Elektrochem. 20,

357-360.------ (With F. SchweRS.) Untersuchungen ueber die spezifische Waerme bei tiefen

Temperaturen. VIII. S. B. preuss. Akad. Wiss. 355—370.

Walther Nernst 1111914. Thermodynamische Berechnung Chemischer Affinitaeten. Ber. dtsch.

Ges. 47, 608-635.------ Anwendung der Quantentheorie auf eine Reihe physikalisch-chemischer Probleme.

Abh. dtsch. Buns. Ges. 7, 208—244.1915. Zur Registrierung schnell verlaufender Druckaenderungen. S. B. preuss Akad

PFm. 896-901.1916. Ueber die experimentelle Bestimmung Chemischer Konstanten. Z. Elektrochem

22, 185-194.------ Ueber einen Versuch von quantentheoretischen Betrachtungen zur Annahme

stetiger Energieaenderungen zurueckzukehren. Vehr. dtsch. phys. Ges. 18, 83-116.

1918. Zur Anwendung des Einsteinschen photochemischen Aequivalentgesetzes. Z.Elektrochem. 24, 335—336.

1919. (With T h. W ulf.) Ueber eine Modifikation der Plankschen Strahlungsformelauf experimenteller Grundlage. Verb, dtsch. phys. Ges. 21, 294-337.

------ Einige Folgerungen aus der sogenannten Entartungstheorie der Gase. S. B.preuss. Akad. Wiss. 118—127.

1920. (With W. N oddack.) Zur Kenntnis der photochemischen Reaktionen. Phys. Z.21, 602-605.

------ (With K. M oers.) Zur Konstitution der Hydride. Z. Elektrochem. 26, 323-325.1921. Die Elektrochemischen Arbeiten von Helmholtz. ,9 , 699-702.------ Studien zur chemischen Thermodynamik. (Nobel-Vertrag). Les Prix Nobel en

1921-1922.1922. Zum Gueltigkeitsbereich der Naturgesetze. (Rektoratsrede). 10,

489-495.1923. Zur Natur der chemischen Valenz. Z. angew. Chem. 36, 453-455.------ (With W. N oddack.) Zur Theorie photochemischer Vorgaenge. S. B. preuss.

Akad. Wiss. 110-115.1926. (With W. Orthmann.) Die Verduennungswaerme von Salzen bei sehr kleinen

Konzentrationen. S. B. preuss. Akad. Wiss. 51—56.1927. (With W. Orthmann.) Die Verduennungswaerme von Salzen bei sehr kleinen

Konzentrationen. II. S. B. preuss. Akad. Wiss. 136-141.------ Zur Theorie der elektrolytischen Dissoziation. Z. Elektrochem. 33, 428-431.------ Svante Arrhenius. Z. Elektrochem. 33, 537—539.1928. (With W. Orthmann.) Die Verduennungswaerme von Salzen bei sehr kleinen

Konzentrationen. Z. phys. Chem. 135, 199-208.------ Zur Theorie der elektrolytischen Dissoziation. Z. phys. Chem. 135, 237—250.------ Ueber die Berechnung der elektrolytischen Dissoziation aus der elektrischen

Leitfaehigkeit. S. B. preuss. Akad. Wiss. 4—8.------ Physico-chemical considerations in astrophysics. J. Franklin Inst. 206, 135—142.1929. (With K. W ohl.) Spezifische Waerme bei hohen Temperaturen. Z. tech. Phys.

10, 608-614.1930. Albert von Ettinghausen. (Erinnerungen an meine Grazer Studentenzeit). Elektro-

techn. u. Maschinenb. 48, 279—281.1931. Epilog. (Bemerkung zu dem Wiederabdruck der am 5. April 1881 vor der chem.

Soc. London von H. v. Helmholtz gehaltenen Gedaechtnisrede: Die neuere Entwicklung von Faradays Ideen ueber Elektrizitaet.) Naturivissenschaften, 19, 809-810.

1932. Wilhelm Ostwald. Z. Elektrochem. 38, 337—341.1933. Zur Thermodynamik sehr verduennter Gase und Loesungen. S. B. preuss. Akad.

Wiss. 467-470.1935. Physikalische Betrachtungen zur Entwicklungstheorie der Sterne. Z. Phys. 97,

511-534.------ Einige weitere Anwendungen der Physik auf die Stementwicklung. S. B. preuss.

Akad. Wiss. 473-479.

1937. Weitere Pruefung der Annahme eines stationaeren Zustandes im Weltall. Z.106, 633-661.

------ Zum 50. Geburtstage der elektrolytischen Dissoziationstheorie von Arrhenius.Z. Elektrochem. 43, 146-148.

1938. Die Strahlungstemperatur des Universums. Ann. . (5), 32, 44-48.1939. Zur Erinnerung an den hundertsten Geburtstag von Willard Gibbs.

schaften, 27, 393—394.1940. The third law of energy. Facsimile of letter dated 14 September 1940. Kraftstoff,

16, 299.

1 12 Obituary Notices

Books

In: Jahrbuch der Chemie, ed. R. M eyer (Physikalisch-chemischer Teil). Frunkfurt a. M., 1892.

Vol. I of Handbuch der anorganischen Chemie, ed. O. D ammer. Stuttgart, 1892.(With A. H esse.) Siede-und Schmelzpunkt, ihre Theorie und praktische Verwertung,

mit besonderer Beruecksichtigung organischer Verbindungen. Braunschweig, 1893.Theoretische Chemie vom Standpunkt der Avogadro’schen Regel und der Thermo-

dynamik. Stuttgart, 1892; 11—15th edition in 1926. English translation, ‘Theoretical Chemistry from the standpoint of Avogadro’s Rule and Thermodynamics. London, 1895; 5th edition in 1923.

(With A .' Schoenflies.) Einfuehrung in die mathematische Behandlung der Natur- wissenschaften. Muenchen, 1895; 11th edition in 1931.

(With W. Borchers.) Ed. Jahrbuch der Elektrochemie. Halle, 1895-.Die Ziele der physikalischen Chemie (Festrede zur Einweihung des Instituts fuer

physikalische Chemie). Goettingen, 1896.Physikalisch-chemische Betrachtungen ueber den Verbrennungsprozess in den Gas-

motoren. Berlin, 1905.Experimental and theoretical applications of Thermodynamics to Chemistry. (Silliman

lectures). N.Y., 1907.Kinetische Theorie fester Koerper. (In Goettinger Wolfskehl Vortraege, p. 61-68.)

Leipzig, 1913.The theory of the solid state. Based on four lectures delivered at University College,

London, 1914.Die theoretischen und experimentellen Grundlagen des neuen Waermesatzes. Halle,

1918; 2nd edition in 1924. English translation, ‘The new heat theorem, its founda­tion in theory and experiment. London, 1926.

Das Weltgebaeude im Lichte der neueren Forschung. Berlin, 1921.Rede auf Rudolf Clausius. Bonn, 1922.