The World Of Walther Nernst

Walther Nernst

More than 100 years ago, in 1905, Walther Nernst discovered the Third Law of Thermodynamics, thus completing this fundamental theory. In 1920 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The book describes the life of this pioneer of science, his major stations being Graz, then Göttingen, and finally Berlin. Also presented is a lively account of the development of low temperature physics by Nernst during the early days of quantum theory, when he was in Berlin, closely associated with Albert Einstein, Max Planck, and Max von Laue.The book outlines the specific advances achieved by Nernst in the thermodynamic concepts of theoretical chemistry. Written for a general readership, it can also serve as a supplement for courses in physics and chemistry. In addition to the role of science in the life of Nernst, the impact of the political turmoil in Germany before and after the advent of the 20th century is also told.

The World of Walther Nernst

The World of Walther Nernst: The Rise and Fall of German Science 1864-1941

At the end of the 19th century, under the benevolent patronage of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Germany became home to new scientific and technological ideas. In German universities, innovators like Albert Einstein, Max Planck, Werner Heisenberg, Max Born, Erwin Schrödinger, Wolfgang Pauli and Walther Nernst revolutionized physics and chemistry with their theories of relativity, of the atomic structure and of the quanta. Walther Nernst, a founder of physical chemistry, received the Nobel prize in 1920 for his formulation of the third law of thermodynamics. He died in 1941 in Germany, disillusioned by Hitler’s destruction of German academic life. This biography of Walther Nernst, the author’s mentor, also provides an overview of German science and technology, from its stellar rise to its rapid fall when the Nazis came to power and the vast majority of German scientists went into exile to Britain (like the author), to the United States or elsewhere to continue the tradition and spirit of the scientific revolutions started in Germany’s institutions of higher learning. “A masterly description of the spectacular rise of German science and industry at the turn of the century and of life in Germany in the pre-1933 era.” — The Times (London) “Mendelssohn’s... fascinating book... is a study of the rise and fall of German science as well as a life of Walther Nernst... as he shows, the ‘mad fanaticism’ of the Nazis blinded them, and blinded them completely, to the enormous scientific potential they had inherited in the laboratories of Weimar Germany.” — Roger Williams, Encounter