- William Giauque
Infobox_Scientist
name = William Francis Giauque
image_size =180px
birth_date =May 12 ,1895
birth_place =Niagara Falls, Ontario ,Canada
nationality =Canada
death_date = death date and age| 1982|3|28|1895|5|12
death_place = Berkeley,California
field =Physical chemistry
work_institution =University of California, Berkeley
alma_mater =University of California, Berkeley
doctoral_advisor =George Ernest Gibson ,Gilbert N. Lewis
prizes =Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1949)William Francis Giauque (
May 12 ,1895 –March 28 ,1982 ) was a Canadian chemist andNobel laureate recognised in 1949 for his studies in the properties ofmatter at temperatures close toabsolute zero .Biography
William Francis Giauque was born in
Niagara Falls, Ontario , on May 12, 1895.As his parents were U.S. citizens, they returned to the U.S. where he attended public schools primarily in Michigan. Following the death of his father in 1908, the family returned to Niagara Falls, where he studied at the Niagara Falls Collegiate Institute. After graduation, he looked for work in various power plants at Niagara Falls both for financial reasons and to pursue a career in electrical engineering but was unsuccessful.
However, he was successful in an application with the
Hooker Electro-Chemical Company inNiagara Falls, New York , which led him to accept employment in their laboratory. As a consequence of his enjoyment of the work, he decided to become a chemical engineer.After two years employment he entered the College of Chemistry of the
University of California, Berkeley , where he received a bachelor of science degree with honors in 1920, was a University Fellow for 1920-1921 and James M. Goewey Fellow 1921-1922. He received his Ph.D. degree in chemistry with a minor in physics in 1922.Research
Although he entered university with an interest in becoming an engineer, he soon developed an interest in research under the influence of Professor
Gilbert N. Lewis . Due to his outstanding performance as a student, he became an Instructor of Chemistry at Berkeley in 1922 and after passing through the various grades of professorship, he became full Professor of Chemistry in 1934. He retired in 1962.Absolute zero
He became interested in the
third law of thermodynamics as a field of research during his experimental research for his Ph.D. research under ProfessorGeorge Ernest Gibson comparing the relative entropies of glycerine crystals and glass.The principal objective of his researches was to demonstrate through range of appropriate tests that the third law of thermodynamics is a basic natural law. In 1926, he proposed a method for observing temperatures considerably below one kelvin (−457.87 degrees Fahrenheit or −272.15 degrees Celsius). His work with
D.P. MacDougall between 1933 and 1935 successfully employed them.He developed a magnetic refrigeration device of his own design in order to achieve this outcome, getting closer to absolute zero than many scientists had thought possible. This trailblazing work, apart from proving one of the fundamental laws of nature led to stronger steel, better gasoline and more efficient processes in a range of industries.
His researches and that of his students included a large number of entropy determinations from low temperature measurements, particularly on condensed gases. The entropies and other thermodynamic properties of many gases were also determined from
quantum statistics and molecular energy levels available from band spectra as well as other sources.His correlated investigations of the entropy of oxygen with Dr.
Herrick. L. Johnston , led to the discovery of oxygen isotopes 17 and 18 in the Earth's atmosphere and showed that physicists and chemists had been using different scales of atomic weight for years without recognising it.Personal life
In 1932, Giauque married Dr. Muriel Frances Ashley and they had two sons. He died on
March 28 ,1982 inBerkeley, California .References
*Citation | id=
PMID :16706253 | url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16706253 | last=Shampo | first=Marc A | last2=Kyle | first2=Robert A | last3=Steensma | first3=David P | publication-date=2006 May | year=2006 | title=Stamp vignette on medical science. William F. Giauque--Nobel Prize for low-temperature research | volume=81 | issue=5 | periodical=Mayo Clin. Proc. | pages=587External links
* [http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/biomems/wgiauque.html] National Academy of Sciences biography
* [http://www.nobel.se/chemistry/laureates/1949/giauque-bio.html/] William Giauque Nobel Prize biography
* [http://uk.geocities.com/hertouyt/milko/giauque-speech.html] contributions in the field of chemical thermodynamics, particularly concerning the behaviour of substances at extremely low temperatures.
*
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