What Is the Debye?
Peter Debye is a Dutch physical chemist. Born March 24, 1884 in Maastricht, the Netherlands. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Munich in 1910. Since then, he has taught physics at the University of Zurich, Utrecht University, Göttingen University, and Leipzig University.
Peter Debye
Right!
- Chinese name
- Peter Debye
- Foreign name
- PeterDebye
- Country of Citizenship
- Netherlands
- date of birth
- March 24, 1884
- Occupation
- Physical chemist
- Sex
- male
- Peter Debye is a Dutch physical chemist. Born March 24, 1884 in Maastricht, the Netherlands. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Munich in 1910. Since then, he has taught physics at the University of Zurich, Utrecht University, Göttingen University, and Leipzig University.
- In 1935, he served as Director of the Royal Institute of Theoretical Physics in Berlin. Debye's first research achievement was about dipole moments, which provided knowledge of the arrangement and spacing of atoms in molecules. In 1916, he proposed that X-rays can be used to study the crystal structure of powdered substances, thereby eliminating the need to first prepare good crystals. In 1923, he achieved one of the most important achievements. He and E. Hockel extended S. Arrhenius' theory that salts in solution dissociate into positively and negatively charged atoms (ions), proving that they are not partially ionized , But all ionized. He also established a mathematical expression with Shocker to explain a certain property of the electrolyte solution, namely the Debye-Huckel equation. Debye won the 1936 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research results on dipole moments, X-rays, and light scattering in gases. Two months before the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940, Debye went to Ithaca, New York, USA to teach at Cornell University and joined the United States in 1946. By 1950, he retired as head of the chemistry department. Debye died in New York on November 22, 1966. He was 82 years old.
- Peter Debye
- Achievement contribution
- Peter Debye conducted extensive research in the field of physical chemistry throughout his life. In 1916, he and his graduate student P. Xie Le founded the X-ray powder method (Debye-Xie Le method), which is suitable for the structure determination of polycrystalline samples. In 1911, the formula of molecular dipole moment and the cubic law of specific heat capacity of matter (Debye's formula) were proposed. In 1918, he and his assistant E. Shocker began to study the theory of strong electrolytes, and in 1923, he successfully obtained the equivalent conductivity expression of the strong electrolyte solution (Debye-Huckel formula). The polar molecule theory was proposed in 1929, and the determination method of the molecular dipole moment was determined, which provided data for determining the molecular structure and determining the type of chemical bond. The unit of dipole moment is called Debye. After 1930, he devoted himself to the research of light scattering in solution, and developed the technology to determine the molecular weight of polymer compounds.
- He won the 1936 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for determining molecular structure using dipole moments, X-rays, and electron diffraction. He has received honorary degrees from 16 universities in his life, and has become a member of more than 20 national and regional academies of sciences. He has won important medals such as Gibbs, Nichols, and Priestley.