Théophile de Donder
Théophile Ernest de Donder (born August 19, 1872 in Brussels ; † May 11, 1957 ibid) was a Belgian physicist and physical chemist . He is considered one of the pioneers of non-equilibrium thermodynamics and co-founder of the so-called "Brussels School" of thermodynamics .
Life
De Donder's father was an elementary school teacher and the son initially took up this profession. In addition to his work as a teacher, however, he continued his scientific education and in 1899, without ever having attended a regular lecture, received the doctoral degree in physics at the Free University of Brussels ( Université libre de Bruxelles ). It was not until he was over 40 that he was finally appointed professor in Brussels, so that he could give up teaching as a livelihood.
De Donder's scientific interests lay on the one hand in the field of general relativity , where he was in close friendly exchange with Albert Einstein , and on the other in the field of thermodynamics. He was particularly interested in the thermodynamics of non-equilibrium processes. His most important student was Ilya Prigogine , who continued this research and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1977 . Other important students of de Donder were Jules Géhéniau and Léon Van Hove .
De Donder was a co-founder of the Belgian Mathematical Society . In 1929 he was accepted into the Royal Belgian Academy ( Académie royale de Belgique ). Every three years since 1958, the Academy has awarded the Théophile De Donder Prize for outstanding work in the field of mathematical physics.
Selected Works
- Sur la théorie des invariants intégraux (doctoral thesis) (1899).
- Théorie du champ électromagnétique de Maxwell-Lorentz et du champ gravifique d'Einstein (1917)
- La gravifique Einsteinienne (1921)
- Introduction à la gravifique einsteinienne (1925)
- Théorie mathématique de l'électricité (1925)
- Théorie des champs gravifiques (1926)
- The Mathematical Theory of Relativity (1927)
- Application de la gravifique einsteinienne (1930)
- Theory invariantive du calcul des variations (1931)
- Application de la gravifique einsteinienne à l'électrodynamique des corps en mouvement (1932)
- Thermodynamic Theory of Affinity: A Book of Principles (1936)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Acad. Roy. Belg., Bull. Cl. Sc., P. 169, 1968.
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Donder, Théophile de |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Donder, Théophile Ernest de (full name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Belgian physicist |
DATE OF BIRTH | August 19, 1872 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Brussels |
DATE OF DEATH | May 11, 1957 |
Place of death | Brussels |