Johannes Diderik van der Waals

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Johannes Diderik van der Waals

Johannes Diderik van der Waals (born November 23, 1837 in Leiden , † March 8, 1923 in Amsterdam ) was a Dutch physicist . In 1910 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics .

Life

After completing school he worked as a teacher in his hometown of Leiden. Without having the Abitur as access authorization to university studies, van der Waals attended lectures and seminars at the University of Leiden from 1862 to 1865 . This gave him an extension of his teaching certificates in the subjects of mathematics and physics . From 1864 he worked as a teacher in Deventer . In 1866 van der Waals took a position at a secondary school in The Hague , where he later also became the school director. A change in the law made it possible for him to study natural sciences even without a high school diploma. Van der Waals completed his studies in 1873 with a dissertation in physics. From 1877 to 1908 he was professor of physics at the University of Amsterdam .

Services

Among other things, Van der Waals researched the behavior of molecules and dealt with theories about the state of matter . In 1869 he discovered the cause of the forces of attraction between atoms or non-polar molecules - the Van der Waals forces that were later named after him . In 1873, as part of his doctoral thesis at the University of Leiden, van der Waals developed a model for the continuity of gaseous and liquid states of matter. From this he set up an equation of state that showed that states of aggregation for gases and liquids not only merge, but that these states of aggregation are based on the same physical principle.

For this achievement, van der Waals received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1910 “for his work on the equation of state of gases and liquids” , which in particular also led to the Van der Waals equation he established. In 1875 he became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences . In 1900 he was accepted into the Prussian Academy of Sciences and in 1910 into the Académie des Sciences . In 1913 he was elected to the American National Academy of Sciences .

See also

Fonts

  • JD van der Waals: Over de Continuiteit van den Gas- en Vloeistoftoestand (The continuity of the liquid and gaseous state) . University of Leiden, 1873 (dissertation)
  • Textbook of Thermodynamics. In their application to the equilibrium of systems with gaseous-liquid phases. After lectures. Edited by Philipp Kohnstamm . 2 volumes. 1908-1912;
    • Volume 1. Maas & van Suchtelen, Leipzig et al. 1908, ( digitized );
    • Volume 2. Barth, Leipzig et al. 1912, ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Johannes Diderik van der Waals  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johannes Diderik van der Waals: Over de Continuiteit van den Gas- en Vloeistoftoestand. University of Leiden, 1873 (dissertation)
personal data
SURNAME Waals, Johannes Diderik van der
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize 1910
DATE OF BIRTH November 23, 1837
PLACE OF BIRTH Suffer
DATE OF DEATH March 8, 1923
Place of death Amsterdam