Chemical kinetics and diffusion approach: the history of the Klein–Kramers equation

Abstract

In this essay, the first statistical and stochastic treatments of chemical dynamics are analyzed and discussed, in particular the diffusive description of chemical reactions. The first part of the paper introduces the historical and methodological basis of the theories about stochastic processes and diffusion as well as their lesser-known applications in chemical kinetics, which were advanced by Jens Anton Christiansen (1888–1969). In the second, part we will focus our attention on the early works of Oskar Benjamin Klein (1894–1977) and Hendrik Anton Kramers (1894–1952) on electrolytes and the latter’s more mature work, which completes and gives a firm theoretical background to Christiansen’s description.