Wilhelm Ostwald
Wilhelm Ostwald was born in Riga, Latvia, , on September 2. After
attending the Real gymnasium, he was admitted to Dorpat University
in 1872 to study chemistry. Three years later after taking his final
examinations, he became an assistant at the Physics and
subsequently took a similar position in the Chemistry Laboratory under
Carl Schmidt. In 1877, he was admitted as an unpaid academic lecturer at
Dorpat University. Four years later, he was appointed a full time Professor of
Chemistry at the Polytechnicum in Riga. Six years later he accepted an invitation
to become Professor of Physical Chemistry at Leipzig University, Germany and
was in charge of the organization of the Department of Physical Chemistry.
Ostwald remained in Leipzig until he retired in 1906 spending one term as the
first Exchange Professor at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, in 1904-1905.
After his retirement, Ostwald found new places for his scientific and
organizational talents. In addition to continuing his studies and publications in
philosophy, such as Der energetische Imperativ (The energetic imperative),
Moderne Naturphilosophie (Modern natural philosophy), Die Pyramide der
Wissenschaften (The pyramid of the sciences), he also took an active part in
public life. He supported the middle-class pacifist movement, was interested in
educational reforms and in monism. He believed that in view of his position he
could decisively fight the Church's claim to power in the field of natural sciences
and to spread a modern scientific ideology. This aim he pursued in his writings
Monistische Sonntagspredigten (Monistic Sunday sermons) and Arbeiten zum
Monismus (Works on monism).
Ostwald was one of the founders of classical physical chemistry. He
started his experimental work in 1875, with an investigation on the law of mass
action of water in relation to the problems of chemical affinity, with special
emphasis on electrochemistry and chemical dynamics. This led to the discovery
of the law of dilution (Ostwald's Law of dilution and conductivity). He published
numerous textbooks; Lehrbuch der Allgemeinen Chemie (Textbook of general
chemistry), 1884; Grundriss der Allgemeinen Chemie (Outline of general
chemistry), 1889; and Hand- und Hilfsbuch zur Ausführung physikalischchemischer Messungen (Handbook and manual for physicochemical
measurements), 1893. In 1887, he founded the Zeitschrift für physikalische
Chemie and edited 100 volumes until 1922. In 1894, he founded the Deutsche
Elektrochemische Gesellschaft (German Electrochemical Society) which in 1902
expanded to become the Deutsche Bunsen-Gesellschaft für angewandte
physikalische Chemie (German Bunsen-Society for Applied Physical Chemistry).
In 1902, Ostwald founded Annalen der Naturphilosophie and edited 14 volumes
until 1921. He also founded Klassiker der exakten Wissenschaften in 1889, of
which some 250 volumes have been published.
In 1909, Ostwald was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work
on catalysis, chemical equilibria, and reaction velocities. He received honorary
doctorates from several universities in Germany, Great Britain, and the USA, and
was made an honorary member of learned societies in Germany, Sweden,
Norway, the Netherlands, Russia, Great Britain, and the USA. In 1899, the King
of Saxony made him a Geheimrat .
Even to the end of his life, Ostwald studied colors and shapes, in the
endeavour to find a scientific standardization for colors. His main works in this
field are Die Farbenfibel (The color primer), Die Farbenlehre (Color theory), Die
Harmonie der Farben (Harmony of the colors), and a periodical Die Farbe
(Color).
He and Helene von Reyher were married in 1880. They had two
daughters and three sons, one of whom, Dr. Karl Wilhelm Wolfgang Ostwald
(known in the scientific literature as Wo. Ostwald), was a Lecturer in the
University of Leipzig, and Editor of the Zeitschrift für Chemie und Industrie der
Kolloide, the forerunner of the Kolloid-Zeitschrift. He died at his country home
near Leipzig on April 3, 1932.
OSTWALD ON CATALYSIS
1894- Catalysis is the acceleration of a chemical reaction, which proceeds
slowly, by the presence of a foreign substance.
1902- A substance that changes the velocity of a reaction without itself being
changed by the process
1909- He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry “in recognition of his work on
catalysis and for his investigations into the fundamental principles governing
chemical equilibria and rates of reaction."
1885- Certain reactions can occur if catalyst present [H. E. Armstrong (1885-1903)
and T. M. Lowry (1925-6)].
1981- A catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of reaction without modifying
the overall standard Gibbs energy change in the reaction: the process is called
catalysis, and a reaction in which a catalyst is involved is known as a catalyzed
reaction. (IUPAC).
© 2003, Leopold May
If you have any comments, corrections or suggestions, contact may@cua.edu.