“The Hidden Treasures” in the Wix Library
of the
Weizmann Institute of Science
by Miryam Gordon
Retired reference librarian of the Wix Library Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot
The Haber Library
[Article written by prof. Moshe Levy, based on this article]
Abstract
There are two unique collections in the Wix (Central) Library of the Weizmann Institute of Science:
I. The Collection of the History and Philosophy of Science. The core of the collection is the private library of Prof. Fritz Haber. In addition, this collection includes rare books from the 18th century till the present and books related to the history of the Weizmann Institute.
II. Einstein’s reprints. This is a collection of reprints which were sent to Albert Einstein by contemporary scientists. Einstein donated it to the Weizmann Institute in 1948.
The subjects of this article are:
- Description of the weeding process.
- Description and documentation of the history of the collections.
- Selected titles from the collection.
Introduction
In a scientific establishment like the Weizmann Institute the importance of an up-to-date library of books and journals from all over the world is self-evident. In the early days of science in Israel the rule of the library was to develop the connection with the rest of scientific world, essential for this country. Chaim Weizmann himself paid constant attention to the development of the libraries of the Institute.
There is no doubt that scientific libraries today have a different structure and methodology than they had twenty years ago. Today in the computer age the libraries of the Weizmann Institute can serve as examples of the modern virtual library. The main role of a virtual library is to control the flow of information and disseminate the relevant part to the desk of the scientist. This new information technology makes us forget that all this originates from the traditional written culture based on “printed letters”. The tremendous flow of information through the electronic communication systems raises the question, whether there is still any need for reserving a huge number of books and journals on crowded library shelves. As a partial answer to this dilemma, the Library Committee of the Weizmann Institute of Science decided to carry out a selection of the holdings and remove the obsolete books of the library. This is called the weeding process.
The weeding process
It was always necessary, but today it is even more crucial, to select and save books in libraries according to their importance for the generations to come. Weeding in the libraries of the Weizmann Institute was carried out in this spirit . The weeding process began with the selection of the books by an adviser (usually a leading professor involved in the subject). The adviser examined the books one by one and suggested whether to keep or delete them from the stacks. If the book had special scientific or historical value, it was transferred to the History and Philosophy of Science collection The same adviser also selected the obsolete books to be removed. The rest of the books were either transferred to specific departmental collections or were returned to the shelves of the central library. Some of the obsolete books were offered to appropriate university libraries, and a sale of the remainder was held at a reduced price for the staff of the Institute. Those books which could not be sold were finally sent to a papermill.
All the books went through a certain cataloging process. The cards of the deleted books were removed from the old manual catalogue. The catalog cards of the other categories were converted to the Aleph Automated Library System. The books of the historical collection were designated with the HST symbol. If the book had a personal dedication, this would also be indicated in the catalog .
As a result of the weeding process the “hidden treasures” of the library were rediscovered. “Forgotten” rare books from the beginning of the 18th century, and first or early editions came to light, most of which, according to the Union List of Monographs are the only copies in Israel.
I. The Collection of the History and Philosophy of Science
The Haber Library
The nucleus of the libraries of the Weizmann Institute was the private collection of the late Prof. Fritz Haber. The history of Fritz Haber is a symbol of the tragedy of the Jewish scientist, suffering from the conflict between his Jewishness and his German patriotism. Haber was the son of a prosperous chemical merchant. He entered his father’s business but soon decided to turn to an academic career. His intensive early researches in electrochemistry and thermodynamics soon gained him the position of Professor of Physical Chemistry (1898) at the Technische Hochschule, Karlsruhe. His most important work which begun in 1904, was the synthesis of ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen. His laboratory demonstration interested Bosch, Bergius and the Badische Anilin-und Soda-Fabrik companies, and they eventually developed the process into commercial production. Haber and Bosch were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1918 “for the synthesis of ammonia from its elements”. This work of Haber was invaluable for the German military effort in World War I. In 1911, at the age of 42, Haber was appointed Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry in Berlin .With the outbreak of World War I. in 1914, motivated by his strong patriotism, he placed himself and his laboratory at the service of the government. He played a leading part in the development of poison gas as a weapon.
After the war Haber’s institute became the world’s leading center of research in physical chemistry. Throughout his life he had been an advocate of close relations between science and industry. He was active in promoting the national organization of research and in fostering friendly relations with foreign scientists. The breakup of Haber’s institute began in 1933 when, with the rise of the Nazi regime and its anti-Semitic policy, this great German chemist became ”Haber the Jew”. He was ordered to dismiss all the Jews from the staff of his institute. He refused and resigned.
It was at that time that Haber met Chaim Weizmann, then already a distinguished scientist, and president of the World Zionist Organization (1920-30 and 1935-46), and later the first president of the State of Israel.
Having grown up in a traditional Jewish environment, Weizmann studied in Germany and Switzerland and became a lecturer in biochemistry at the University of Geneva in 1904 and reader in the same subject in Manchester. In World War I. his scientific contribution to Britain had been outstanding: he had discovered a method for the inexpensive large-scale production of acetone, which was desperately needed for making explosives. The innovation was based on bacteria which act upon corn mash to produce the chemical. Asked what reward he wanted for his accomplishment, Weizmann requested a British guarantee of a homeland, Palestine, for the Jewish people. The British Cabinet approved his request and it was publicly expressed by the famous Balfour Declaration on Nov. 2, 1917.
Weizmann devoted himself to the scientific, economic and industrial development of Palestine. He believed that science could provide for the livelihood of as many Jewish immigrants as might decide to settle in Palestine. When in the 1930s fascism prevailed, Weizmann devoted himself to rescuing talented scientists from the Nazi Germany and to bringing them to Palestine. In the early l930s he laid the foundations of the Daniel Sieff Institute at Rehovot, which later became the Weizmann Institute of Science. Prof. Haber and Prof. Willstatter advised and assisted Weizmann in designing and forming a plan of operation of the Institute. Weizmann invited Prof. Haber and promised to appoint him Head of the Physical Chemistry Department of the Daniel Sieff Institute in Rehovot. Haber accepted the invitation but unfortunately, on his way to the Institute he suffered a heart attack and died in Basle in January l934. After his death his private library was presented to the Daniel Sieff Institute by his family.
The importance of the collection is shown in Weizmann’s letters from this time (1-5). He himself supervised and closely followed the transfer of the endowment from Germany to Rehovot and the building of a new Library. “Professor Fritz Haber has left us his library, and that it is now installed at Rehoboth. We had to erect a special small building for it, but we are now in possession of a unique collection of books, appropriately housed.”(6) The inauguration took place in January 1936. Today this unique collection is the core of the Collection of the History and Philosophy of Science in the Wix (Central) Library of the Weizmann Institute. The books from the bequest of Prof. Haber either have his signature, or are dedicated to him. According to the “Union List of Monographs in Israel” most of them are the only copies to be found in the country.
Review of the collection
In the following section some representative examples of books in the History and Philosophy of Science collection of the Wix Library will be given. They comprise only a small part of the collection’s holdings, which contains approximately fourteen hundred titles. The range of subjects represented in the collection extends from philosophy, philosophy of science, history of science, mathematics, physics, chemistry, earth sciences, to life sciences. All the examples cited are either the only copies or are the only copies of that particular early edition in Israel. The full list of publications of the History and Philosophy of Science collection is available at the Library.
The highlights in the professional curriculum of the authors cited from the collection of the History and Philosophy of Science are added in the Appendix.
A: Some representative books from the Haber collection:
Arrhenius, Svante August:
Immunochemistry : the application of the principles of physical chemistry to the study of the biological antibodies. -- New York : Macmillan, 1907.Haber, Fritz:
1. Grundriss der technischen Elektrochemie auf theoretischer Grundlage. --
Munchen : Oldenburg, l898.
A pioneering work that had considerable influence on teaching and research. We have a review copy with blank pages, with Haber’s handwritten corrections and remarks. Not only do we have the only copy in Israel, but even in Germany only a few copies may now exist, since most were probably burned together with the books of other Jewish authors.
2. Thermodynamics of technical gas reactions. -- Translated by A.B. Lamb.
London : Longmans, 1908.
Hoff, Jacobus Henricus van’t:
Zur Bildung der ozeanischen Salzbelagerung. -- Braunschweig : Vieweg, 1905.
Le Chatelier, Henri:
Vom Kohlenstoff. Vorlesungen uber die Grundlagen der reinen und angewandten Chemie. --Aus dem franzosischen ubersetz von H. Barschall ; Vorwort von F. Haber. Halle : Knapp, 1913. The introduction of the German edition is written by Haber. There he emphasizes the role of education in turning the young generation’s attention towards the industrial application of scientific results.
Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon:
Lehrbuch der Physik zum Gebrauche bei akademischen Vorlesungen. --
Bd. 1-2. Nach den vierten Aufl. aus dem hollandischen ubersetzt von G. Siebert.
Leipzig : Barth, 1906-1907. Dedicated to Prof. Haber by the author.
Nernst,Walther Hermann:
Theoretische Chemie vom Standpunkte der Avogadroschen Regel und der Thermodynamik. -- Stuttgart : Enke 1913. “Originally written as an introduction to O. Dammer’s Handbuch der anorganischen Chemie, Stuttgart, 1892 which by 1926 has gone through 15 editions, including translation into English. ”(7)
Ostwald, Wilhelm:
Elektrochemie, ihre Geschichte und Lehre. -- Leipzig : Veit, 1896
His most important single work devoted to the history of science, a book of more than 1100 pages that exhibits Ostwald’s complete command of the scientific literature on electrochemistry and allied areas. It was, however, the only one of Ostwald’s major books that was not published in a second edition, neither was it translated. (8)
Schlenk, Wilhelm und Ernst Bergmann:
Ausfuhrliches Lehrbuch der organischen Chemie. Bd 1. Leipzig : Deuticke, 1932.
“This book contains a remarkable dedication expressing Schlenck’s admiration for Haber not only as a colleague but as a close friend. The second author of the textbook was the “Jewish Bergmann.”. The second volume was published in 1939 and although the proofs which Bergmann corrected carried his name, it is not surprising that on publication his name disappeared and he did not received credit as author”.(9)
Thomson, Sir Joseph John:
Conduction of electricity through gases. 2nd ed. Cambridge : Univ. Press, 1906.
Described by Lord Rayleigh as a summary of “the work of Thomson’s great days at the Cavendish Laboratory”.
B: Additional Titles from the Collection of the History and Philosophy of Science
Bunsen, Robert:
Gasometrische Methoden. -- 2., umgearb.verm.Aufl. -- Braunschweig : Vieweg, 1877.
“Gasometric methods” became a classic, full of chemical, physical and mechanical instructions that elevated gas analysis to equal rank with gravimetric and titrimetric methods”(10).
Burbank , Luther:
Luther Burbank, his methods and discoveries and their practical application, prepared from his original field notes covering more than 100.000 experiments made during forty years devoted to plant improvement. Ed. by Luther Burbank; with the assistance of the Luther Burbank Soc. and its entire membership, in 12 vols. with col. ill.
New York : Luther Burbank Press, 1914-1915.
Helmholtz, Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von:
Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen von Hermann Helmholtz. -- 3 vols.
Leipzig : Barth, 1882. Helmholtz’ collected scientific papers.
Mach, Ernst:
Die Prinzipien der Warmelehre. Historisch-kritisch entwickelt. -- Leipzig : Barth, 1900.
Maxwell, James,
Theory of heat. -- London : Longmans,1894.
New edition. with corrections and additions by Lord Rayleigh.
Musschenbroek, Petrus van: Introductio ad philosophiam naturalem. -- 2 vols.
Lugdani Batavorum : S. et J. Luchtman, 1762 .
Posthumous lecture notes. “Widely used and translated into Dutch, English, French and German” (11).
Planck, Max:
Grundriss der allgemeinen Thermochemie. -- Breslau :Trewendt,1893.
With a thirty-one-page historical introduction.
Poincare, Henri:
Die Maxwellsche Theorie und die Hertzschen Schwingungen: Telegraphie ohne Draht. --
Aus dem franzosischen ubersetzt von M. Ikle. Leipzig : Barth, 1909. ý
Willstatter, Richard, und Arthur Stoll:
1. Untersuchungen uber die Assimilation der Kohlensaure. -- Berlin : Springer, 1918.
2. Untersuchungen uber Chlorophyll. -- Berlin : Springer , 1913.
3. Untersuchungen uber Enzyme. -- In Gemeinschaft mit W. Grassmann ... [u.a.]. Bd.1-2.
Berlin : Springer, 1928. “Fritz Haber zum sechzigsten Geburtstag, in Freundschaft gewidmet”
II. The Einstein Reprints
This collection is made up of article reprints sent to Albert Einstein. The collection itself was formerly located in Berlin and then moved to Princeton. The history of the donation of the collection is as follows: In 1945 Dr. Weizmann invited the late Prof. Chaim. L. Pekeris to establish the Department of Applied Mathematics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. Pekeris was then a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, working with John von Neumann. An advisory committee was set up for the department. The committee consisted of Albert Einstein, Hans Kramers, Robert Oppenheimer, and John von Neumann. Einstein himself showed keen interest in the development of this department .This was demonstrated by the donation of his reprint collection to Weizmann in 1948.
Einstein’s personal involvement in the development of the Weizmann Institute and particularly the Department of Applied Mathematics is reflected in his letter to Dr.Camille Dreyfuss.
“I would be very glad of an opportunity to discuss with you the newly founded Department of Applied Mathematics at the Weizmann Institute at Rehovoth, and its research program. If you could come to Princeton for a visit, it would be welcomed not only by me but also by Dr. Oppenheimer and others here who are also deeply interested in the project. Aside from the intrinsic importance of an institution of fundamental research of this sort, the remarkably fine scientific talent which is being attracted to Rehovoth - particularly in the physical sciences - inspires me to do all I can to assist in the building up of this institution as a permanent and important center of pure and applied scientific activity”.(12)
The collection includes fifty-eight volumes and an author index; approximately 2.300 articles sent by scientists and by public figures from all over the world, written between 1885 and 1942. Many of them are signed or dedicated to Einstein by the author of the article. Some of the reprints have remarks in the margins, or on the back cover.
As an example, the list below indicates some of the authors and the number of their publications in the collection:
Bohr, N. 16
Born, M. 54
Bothe, W. 27
Brillouin, L. 10
Broglie L. de 11
Caratheodory, C. 9
Debye, P. 33
de Donder, T. 8
Eddington, A.S. 12
Ehrenfest, P. 11
Ehrenhaft, F. 19
Epstein, P.S. 21
Fermi, E. 9
Haber,F. 1
Heisenberg, W. 16
Hertz, G. 18
Hilbert, D . 6
Jaffe, G. 3
Jordan, P 15
Kramers, H.A. 7
Lehman, I. 1
Langmuir, I.27 27
Laue, M. von 20
Levi-Civita, T. 25
Lorentz, H.A. 12
Magnes, J.L. 1
Milikan, R.A. 18
Schottky, M. 15
Schouten, J.A. 31
Schrodinger, E. 32
Simon, F. 10
Sommerfeld, A. 27
Szilard, L. 4
Tolman, R.C. 38
Weizmann, Ch. 1
Weyl, H. 9
Wilson, H.A. 8
Zeemann, P. 13
Conclusions
The History and Philosophy of Science Collection of the Wix Library of the Weizmann Institute contains valuable books, some of them first editions. Most of them are the only copy in Israel, and some of them can be evaluated as rarities. They are written by some of the most prominent natural scientists of period of the mid l8th to the mid 20th century.The collection has an inherent cultural value in two senses:First, the articles and books contain the original ideas of the greatest natural scientists of a historical period of revolutionary change in the sciences, technology and in the perception of the human mind on the surrounding world.
Second, the collection belongs to Israel’s cultural heritage: its possession is a consequence of concentrated effort of the greatest scientists o Af the 3d-5th decades of the century towards the establishment and strengthening of the Weizmann Institute and the Jewish State.
Acknowledgments
Thanks are due
-to the chief librarian of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Mrs. Ilana Pollack, for her support;
-to the head of the cataloguing unit:, Mrs. Yardena Huber, for her devoted cooperation.
Without her assistance this project would not have been carried out;-to the librarians, Mrs. Hedva Milo , Mrs.Libetta Tchernobrov, Mrs. Anna Ilionski for the cooperation;
-to the late Prof. Ch. L. Pekeris who told the story of the donation of the Einstein Reprints to the Weizmann Institute, a few days before his sudden death;
-to the advisers: Professors : A. Ben-Menachem, Y. Frishmann, B. Geiger, Y. Mazur,
A. Meshorer, U. Taub. and the late Professors: J. Gillis and E. Gil-Av for their devoted
help in the evaluation and selection of the books;-to Dr.Tony Travis; Edelstein Center for the History and Philosophy of Science at the Hebrew Univ.of Jerusalem,
-to Mr. Herbert Zimmermann, Molekulkristalle MPI fur Medizinische Forschung Heidelberg, Germany,
-to Dr. Gabor Pallo, Hungarian Academy of Science, Institute of Philosophy, Budapest, Hungary,
for their encouragement and their recognition of the value concealed in the historical collection;-and last but not least to my husband David, for his support and help in every stage of this project.
References
1. Letter to Dr. Herrmann Haber (Paris) son of Fritz Haber; Weizmann Archives, Rehovot.
2. Letter to Dr.Ernst Bergmann, at the time scientific director of the Sieff Inst. Rehovot. ibid
3. Letters to Prof. Richard Willstatter: German organic chemist; Nobel Prize 1915. in: Letters and papers of Chaim Weizmann vol. 17, 1935-36. p. 9, 93.
4. Letter to Bruno Rosenfeld: Chemist at the Sieff Inst. Rehovot. ibid p. 18.
5. Letter to Leonard J. Stein: Born in London,barrister, author, and Zionist historian. ibid p. 64-65.
6. Letter to Albert K. Epstein (Chicago) chemist and philantropist. ibid p. 222.
7. Dictionary of Scientific Biorgraphy, Vol. 9, p. 451. New York : Scribner, 1981.
8. ibid Vol. 10, p. 466.
9. Ginsburg, Israel J. Chem.Vol. l, 1963, p. 32.
10. Great Chemists. Ed. Farber E. p. 579 New York: Interscience, 1961.
11. Dictionary of Scientific Biorgraphy, Vol .9, p. 59 New York : Scribner, 1981.
12. Letter to Camille Dreyfus, president of The Dreyfus Foundation, Inc. New York. Weizmann Archives 3/96-45.
Bibliography
Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Ed. by C.C.Gillispie vols. 1-18. New York: Scribner’s Sons, 1981-1990.
Drake,C.S.: The Weeding of a Historical Society Library. Special Libraries, Springer, 86-91, 1992.
Encyclopaedia Judaica. vol. 1-25. Jerusalem : Keter, 1971-1992.
Ginsburg,D.: Ernst David Bergmann., Israel J. Chem., vol. 1, 323-350, 1963
Goran, M.H.: The Story of Fritz Haber. lst ed. Norman, OK : Univ. Oklahoma Press, 1967.
Great Chemists. Ed. by E. Farber. New York : Interscience, 1961.
Meyers Grosses Universal Lexikon. vol. 1-15. Mannheim : Bibliographisches Institute, 1981-1986.
The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. -- 15th ed. -- vols. 1-21. Chicago : Encyclopaedia, 1990.
Nobel Foundation Directory 1991-1992. Stockholm : Printed by Sturetryckeriet, 1991.
Partington, J.R.: A History of Chemistry. vol. 4 . London : Macmillan, 1964.
Poggendorff, J.C.: Biographisch-Literarisches Handworterbuch zur Geschichte der Exakten Wissenschaften. Bd.7a-b. Berlin: Akademie Vlg., 1965-1975.
Slote, S.J.: Weeding Library Collections. Englewood, CO : Libraries Unlimited, 1989.
Weizmann Chaim: Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann. Ser. A: vols. 1-23. London: Oxford University Press, 1968-1980
Weizmann, Chaim: Trial and error, the autobiography of Chaim Weizmann. New York: Harper, 1949.
Webster’s Biographical Dictionary. Springfield : Merriam, 1953.
World Who’s Who in Science. Chicago : Marquis, 1968.
Appendix
Highlights in the professional lives of the authors cited in the
Collection of the History and Philosophy of Science
Arrhenius, Svante August, Sweden, 1859-1927.
In 1903 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on electrolytic dissociation. His range of scientific interests was very wide: over the years, he moved away from the study of solutions to immunology and then to geology and cosmology.Bergmann, Ernst David, Germany, 1903-1975.
Organic chemist. Privatdozent, Univ. of Berlin 1928-33; moved to London where he began his close association with Chaim Weizmann. He became Scientific Director of the Daniel Sieff Res. Inst. and Weizmann Inst. of Science 1934-51; Director, Scientific Dept., Israel Ministry of Defense 1949-66; Chairman, Israel Atomic Energy Comm. 1952-56; Professor of Organic Chemistry, Hebrew Univ., Jerusalem from 1953; Israel Prize for Natural Sciences 1965.Bunsen, Robert, Germany, 1811-1899.
Chemist and pioneer in the field of spectrum analysis. His inventions are: the Bunsen burner, the ice calorimeter, the vapour calorimeter and the filter pump.Burbank, Luther, U.S., 1849-1926.
Plant breeder who by hybridization produced over 800 new strains and varieties of plants.Helmholtz, Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand, Germany, 1821-1894.
Helmholtz made fundamental contributions to physiology, optics, electrodynamics, mathematics, and meteorology, but he is best known for his statement of the law of the conservation of energy. In addition, he brought to his laboratory research the ability to analyze the philosophical assumptions on which much of 19th century science was based.Hoff, Jacobus Henricus van’t, the Netherlands, 1852-1911.
In 1901 was awarded the first Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the discovery of the laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions. Advanced the theory of asymetric carbon atom, laying the foundation for stereochemistry; applied thermodynamics to chemistry; propounded the theory that dissolved substances obey the laws of gases.Le Chatelier, Henri , France, 1850-1936.
Inorganic chemist, best known for the “Le Chatelier principle”. This principle is invaluable in predicting the optimum conditions for achieving a reaction, either in the laboratory or industrially. Later Le Chatelier became an authority on metallurgy, on cements, glasses, fuels and explosives. During World War I. Le Chatelier served as advisor to the Fench government on many military matters.Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon, the Netherlands, 1853-1928.
Joint winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1902 with Pieter Zeemann, for his theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was confirmed by findings of Zeeman, and gave rise to Einstein’s special theory of relativity. Authority on quantum physics; discoverer (independent of Fitzgerald) of Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction; research on electromagnetism, gravitation, thermodynamics, radiation, kinetic theory; deduced mathematically the behavior of light, as indicated in J.C. Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory; formulated electromagnetic theory of matter by solving hydrostatic and hydrodynamic engineering problems.Mach, Ernst, Moravia, 1838-1916.
Physicist and philosopher who established important principles of optics, mechanics, and wave dynamics and who supported the organization of the data of sensory experience (or observation).Maxwell, James Clark, Scotland, 1831-1879.
Musschenbroek, Petrus van, the Netherlands, 1692-1761.
James Clark Maxwell is regarded by most physicists as the scientist of the l9th century who had the greatest influence on 20th century physics; he is ranked with Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein for the fundamental nature of his contribution. Maxwell was the first to apply the methods of probability and statistics in discribing the properties of an assemly of molecules.Later investigated the transport properties of gases i.e. the effect of changes in temperature and pressure on viscosity, thermal conductivity, and diffusion. His investigations of colour theory led him to conclude that colour photography could be produced by photographing through filters of the three primary colours and then recombining the images. Perhaps his most significant contribuion to modern physics is expressed in the: Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. (1873) In this work Maxwell converted Faraday’s ideas into mathematical form. The “Maxwell equations” became the basic tool in the field of electricity, magnetism, light and radiowaves.
Mathematician and physicist; discovered the principle of the Leyden jar in 1745.Nernst, Walther Hermann, Germany, 1864-1941.
In 1921 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work in thermochemistry. One of the founders of modern physical chemistry, theory of solutions, thermodynamics, the solid state and photochemistry.Ostwald, Wilhelm, Germany, 1853-1932.
In 1909 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work in catalysis, chemical equilibrium and reaction velocities. He was a close friend of Svante Arrhenius and J.H. van’t Hoff and with them he established physical chemistry. He was active in a wide range of areas. He was interested in the philosophy of science, psychology, in historical problems, and painting.Planck, Max, Germany,1858-1947.
Poincare, Henri, France, 1854-1912.
Originated and helped the development of the quantum theory from 1901; this theory evolved from his work on black-body radiation problems. Planck’s constant, h, the quantum of action, named after him; research in thermodynamics, especially theory of entropy; investigated mechanics, optical problems associated with radiation of heat and with quantum theory. In 1918 won the Nobel Prize for Physics for his quantum theory. He was president of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for Scientific Research between 1930-1937 ( later the Max Planck Society). His final years spent in research on problems of philosophy and causality.
Mathematician, theoretical astronomer, and philosopher of science who influenced cosmogony, relativity and topology and was a gifted interpreter of science to a wide public.Schlenk, Wilhelm, Germany, 1879-1943.
Professor of organic chemistry Univ. Munchen from1905, Univ. Vienna from 1916, Univ. Berlin from 1921, director of the First Organic Chemical Institute, Berlin.Stoll, Arthur, Switzerland, 1887-1971.
Research on chlorophyll, photosynthesis, cardiac glycosides, assimilation, ergot of rye; developed processing and methods applied for natural substances.Thomson, Sir Joseph John, Great Britain , 1856-1940.
In 1906 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for the great merits of his theoretical and experimental investigations on the conduction of electricity by gases. Thomson’s later researches led to the discovery of a new method of separating different kinds of atoms and molecules.Willstatter Richard, Germany, 1872-1942.
Chemist whose study of the structure of chlorophyll and other plant pigments won him the 1918 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. When his work was interrupted by World War I, at the behest of Fritz Haber he turned his attention to developing a gas mask. During the 1920s he investigated the mechanisms of enzyme reactions. Being a Jew, in 1924 he resigned in protest against anti-Semitic pressure. He continued his work privately, first in Munich and from 1939 in Switzerland.