Throwing heat and light on Walther Nernst

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Walther Nernst (1864–1941) is a central figure in the history of physical chemistry and an important figure in late nineteenth and early twentieth century German science. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 1920 for his discovery of the Third Law of Thermodynamics. In addition, he made fundamental contributions to electrochemistry, the theory of solutions, thermodynamics, solid state chemistry and photochemistry. His textbooks in physical chemistry were central to the field. Nernst was also an inventor whose research and inventions flowed from a nexus of linked theoretical and technological issues. Nernst helped found the KaiserWilhelm-Gesellschaft (later the Max Planck Society) and was the host of and a regular participant in the famous Friday afternoon physics discussions in the early 1920s that included Einstein, Planck, von Laue, and Schrodinger among others. Given Nernst’s stature and influence, it is perhaps surprising that until now we have had no biography in English that covers his entire life. Diana Barkan focuses her excellent book, Walther Nernst and the Transition to Modern Physical Science (Cambridge, 1999), primarily on Nernst’s scientific and technological interests before the First World War. An earlier biography by Mendelssohn is, as its title accurately conveys, more about The World of Walther Nernst (Pittsburgh, 1973) than about Nernst himself. Bartel and Huebener’s biography of Nernst’s entire life attempts to fill this gap, paying special attention to his work during and after World War I. They cover Nernst’s early life; his years as a student; his marriage and family life; his assistantship with Ostwald in Leipzig; his first university position in Gottingen; his move to Berlin to assume the chair as Professor of Physical Chemistry; his brief sojourn as director of the Physikalish-Technische Reichsanstalt (PTR) from 1922 until 1924; his move back to the University of Berlin for the rest of the 1920s; and