Walther Hermann Nernst

Walther Hermann Nernst (1864-1941), German physical chemist and Nobel laureate, best known for his contributions to the field of thermodynamics. Thermodynamics deals with the relation between heat and work and the conversion of one form of energy to another. Nernst developed the third law of thermodynamics by expanding principles laid out in the first two laws. Nernst's third law was useful in the development of quantum theory, which deals with the structure and energy of the atom.

Nernst was born in Briesen (now Warbrzezno, Poland), and educated at the universities of Zürich, Berlin, Graz, and Würzburg. After serving as professor at the University of Göttingen, he was appointed professor of physics at the University of Berlin in 1905 and later became director of the Institute of Experimental Physics in Charlottenburg (a district of Berlin). In 1925 he was appointed director of the Physical Institute at the University of Berlin.

Nernst developed an electric lamp, called the Nernst lamp, which was more efficient than the old carbon-arc lamps, but which became obsolete with the development of modern filament lamps. He made outstanding contributions to the study of chemical equilibria and to the theory of solutions, particularly regarding the nature of electrolytes. He also conducted important research on substances at extremely low temperatures. Nernst received the 1920 Nobel Prize in chemistry.