Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld

Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld (born February 24, 1892 in Vienna , † June 3, 1978 in Washington, DC ) was an Austrian-American physicist and university professor who worked in the fields of theoretical quantum physics, statistical physics and physical chemistry.

Life

Herzfeld studied in Vienna, Zurich and Göttingen. He received his doctorate in 1914 from the University of Vienna under Friedrich Hasenöhrl .

After five years as a private lecturer with Arnold Sommerfeld and Kasimir Fajans at the University of Munich , he became associate professor at the University of Munich in 1925.

In 1926 he was initially a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. This position has been converted to a regular position. He stayed there until 1937, when he moved to the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC

In 1958 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , in 1960 to the National Academy of Sciences . Herzfeld was awarded numerous honorary doctorates , including from Marquette University , Milwaukee (1933), from the University of Maryland, College Park (1956) and from the Technical University of Stuttgart (1962).

Among the well over 50 doctoral students supervised by him are Walter Heitler (University of Munich) and John Archibald Wheeler (Johns Hopkins University).

Works

• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld (1912): About an atomic model that emits the Balmer hydrogen series. Meeting reports of the Royal Academy of Sciences Vienna 121 (2a): 593-601.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld (1913): On the electron theory of metals. Annals of Physics (4) 41: 27-52
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld (1919): On the theory of reaction rates in gases. Ann. Phys. 59 (4): 635-67.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld (1920): The statistical significance of the thermodynamic functions. Journal of Physical Chemistry 95 (2): 139-53.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld (1921): Physical and electrochemistry. In Encyclopedia of Mathematical Sciences, Volume 5, Felix Klein [Hrsg.], Part 6, pp. 947-1112. Leipzig: BG Teubner.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld (1924): Size and structure of molecules. In Handbuch der Physik, 1st ed., Volume 22, A. Smekal [Hrsg.], Pp. 386-519. Berlin: Springer-Verlag (2nd edition, Volume 24, 1933, pp. 1–252).
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld (1925): Kinetic theory of heat. In Müller-Pouillets textbook of physics, volume 3. Braunschweig: F. Viewig and son.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld (1926): Classical Thermodynamics. In Handbuch der Physik, 1st ed., Volume 9, pp. 1-140. Berlin, Springer-Verlag.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld (1927): A criterion for determining when an element will show metallic conductivity. Physical Review 29: 701-705.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld & FO Rice (1928): Dispersion and absorption of high-frequency sound waves. Physical Review 31: 691-95.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld & KL Wolf (1928). Absorption and dispersion. In Handbuch der Physik, 1st ed., Volume 20, pp. 480-634. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld (1931): Lattice theory of solid bodies. In Handbuch der Experimental Physik, Volume 7, W. Wien and F. Harms [Hrsg.], Pp. 325-422. Leipzig: Academic Publishing Society.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld & HM Smallwood (1931): The kinetic theory of gases and liquids. In A Treatise on Physical Chemistry, 2nd ed., Vol. 1, ed. HS Taylor, pp. 73-217. New York: Van Nostrand.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld & HM Smallwood (1931): Imperfect gases and the liquid state. In A Treatise on Physical Chemistry, 2nd ed., Vol. 1, ed. HS Taylor, pp. 219-250. New York: Van Nostrand.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld & M. Göppert-Mayer (1934): On the states of aggregation. Journal of Chemical Physics 2: 38-45.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld & M. Göppert-Mayer (1935): On the theory of fusion. Phys. Rev. 46: 995-1001.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld & James Franck (1937): An attempted theory of photosynthesis. J. Chem. Phys. 5: 237-51.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld & James Franck (1941): Contributions to a theory of photosynthesis. J. Phys. Chem. 45: 978-1025.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld (1947): Electron levels in polyatomic molecules having resonating double bonds. Chemical Reviews 41: 233-56.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld (1949): Nodal surfaces in molecular wave functions. Review of Modern Physics 21: 527-30.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld & HM Smallwood (1951): The kinetic theory of gases. In A Treatise on Physical Chemistry, 3rd ed .; vol. 2, eds. HS Taylor and S. Glasstone, p. 1-186. New York: Van Nostrand.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld, RN Schwartz & ZI Slawsky (1952) Calculation of vibrational relaxation times in gases. J. Chem. Phys. 20: 1591-99.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld (1955): Relaxation phenomena in gases. In Thermodynamics and Physics of Matter, vol. 1, ed. F. Rossini, pp. 646-735. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld & V. Griffing (1955) :. Fundamental physics of gases. In Thermodynamics and Physics of Matter, vol. 1, ed. F. Rossini, pp. 111-176. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld & T. A Litoviz (1959) Absorption and Dispersion of Ultrasonic Waves. New York: Academic Press.
• Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld (1966): Fifty years of physical ultrasonics. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 39: 815-25.

Web links

• Literature by and about Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld in the catalog of the German National Library
• Joseph F. Mulligan: Karl Ferdinand Herzfeld 1892–1978. A Biographical Memoir . The National Academy Press, 2001 (English, nasonline.org [PDF]). ; see also NAS membership directory .
• Karl F. Herzfeld. Biography. In: Physics History Network. AIP(English). 
• Thomas S. Kuhn : Interview with Karl Herzfeld. In: Oral Histories. AIP, 1962 (English). 
• Biographical information. In: Catholic University. Archived from the original on June 10, 2010 .