Ostwald

Ostwald, Wilhelm

ACHIEVEMENTS: “Energetics.”

NICKNAME/ALIAS: None

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: September 2, 1853, Riga, Latvia

DATE/PLACE OF DEATH/AGE AT DEATH: April 4, 1932, near Leipzig, Germany. Aged 78

DISCIPLINE: Scientist

FIELD: Chemistry

LANGUAGE: Russian

PARENTS: Gottfried Ostwald; Elisabeth Leuckel

SIBLINGS: Unknown

SPOUSE: Helene von Reyher

CHILDREN: Five

EDUCATION: High school, Riga, Latvia; University of Dorpat, Estonia

MAJOR WORK: "Textbook of General Chemistry", "Great Men"

LIFE AND TIMES:

In 1881, Ostwald was made a Professor of Chemistry at the Riga Polytechnic Institute. In 1887, he moved to the University of Leipzig, accepting the only professorship of physical chemistry which then existed. In 1888, he published "Textbook of General Chemistry", which played a large part in establishing physical chemistry as an independent discipline.

He founded the "Journal of Physical Chemistry", which remained the main journal in the field for many years. In 1889, he began publishing a series of reprints of the most notable papers in physics and chemistry. He introduced new methods in the analytical training of chemists and helped make the university at Leipzig a leading center of physical chemistry.

Ostwald's own research was on the nature of chemical changes in solution, and on electrochemistry. He did not accept the physical reality of atoms and molecules, regarding them as only mental constructs.

He believed in an energy-based system that would combine natural science, social science, and the humanities, and in 1890, began to develop his theories of energetics. He saw energy as the real entity in the world, and matter a manifestation of it. He believed that, by analyzing the energy transformations which took place in nature and the laboratory, all phenomena could be explained.

In 1894, he issued the first modern definition of a catalyst.

In 1895, Ostwald lectured on energetics to a group of German scientists and physicians, proposing the idea that energy had displaced matter as a concept. The lecture created great controversy, and Ostwald was challenged by Nernst*, his former student at Leipzig, Planck*, Boltzmann*, and many other colleagues.

Although he never managed to prove his theory, Ostwald never gave up trying. In 1902, he published a work on systematic philosophical energetics dedicated to Mach*, a scientist who also rejected atomism, but who did not put much stock in energetics either. Ostwald frequently expounded his views in the "Annals of Nature Philosophy", which he edited from 1901-14.

In 1902, Ostwald patented his process for the conversion of ammonia to nitric acid, a method that was to become significant for industry. He was the first German exchange professor at Harvard, lecturing there during the 1905-06 academic year.

In 1906, Ostwald finally accepted the atomic-molecular theory of matter, in large part because of the work of the scientist J.J. Thompson*, who had identified cathode rays as atoms of electricity. The same year, Ostwald resigned his post at Leipzig and moved to an estate he had bought near Grimma, (he called the house "Energie") where he spent the rest of his life doing research.

Ostwald systematically investigated colors, developed a quantitative color theory, and produced samples of colors and coloring substances. His work enabled the use of color to be quantified. His ideas, though much challenged, were taught in schools. In the United States, his "Color Harmony Manual" was the accepted color standard.

In 1909, his work on catalysts, chemical equilibrium and speeds of reaction earned him the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

Ostwald also wrote about the philosophy of science and in "Great Men" (1909), explored the psychological causes of scientific productivity. He also created his own artificial language, which he called Ido. He expounded the view that the individual is a cell in the collective organism of humanity. He condemned war, was active in the international peace movement, and joined the "Deutsche Monistenbund" (Monist League) , a society that promoted a world based on scientific thinking.

At the invitation of Haeckel*, he became president of the Society from 1910-14. By the end of his life, Ostwald had come to believe that "the great task of the 20th century was the organization of scientific work. He proclaimed: "...I consider the organizer as more important than the discoverer".

ASSESSMENT: The principal figure in establishing physical chemistry as a separate discipline

EXTRA CONNECTIONS: He was a friend of Ratzel* andRamsay*

His work related to that of Comte*

ONELINER: Wilhelm Ostwald, who invented ‘Energetics.’

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Encyclopedia Britannica

Dictionary of Scientific Biography