; died 4 April 1904) was a Swiss physicist and chemist. He is universally known for his work on thermodiffusion (the so-called Soret effect).

Life

Charles Soret was the son of Jacques-Louis Soret

Jacques-Louis Soret

Jacques-Louis Soret was a Swiss chemist who in 1878, along with Marc Delafontaine, first observed holmium spectroscopically. Independently, Per Teodor Cleve separated it chemically from thulium and erbium in 1879...

, professor of physical medicine at University of Geneva, and Clémentine Odier. In 1872, Charles graduated from an art college in Geneva and, two years later, he added a degree in mathematics. In addition, he also attended lectures in physics and other sciences. He continued studies in mathematics at the Sorbonne

Sorbonne

The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...

, where he received his MA in 1876. He believed that a good physicist is first of all a good mathematician; therefore, only afterwards he focused on physics in which he obtained a master's degree two years later.

Soon, he was offered a place in the Department of crystallography and mineralogy at the University of Geneva. There, in 1879, he became a lecturer and a full professor in 1881.

In 1879, he published his first discussion on thermodiffusion on the basis of experiments with solutions of NaCl and KNO₃ in pipes with heated or cooled ends. His experiments confirmed the results of C. Ludwig (published 20 years earlier) of which Soret probably did not know.

In addition to thermal migration, he also conducted research on refractometry

Refractometry

Refractometry is the method of measuring substances' refractive index in order to, for example, assess their composition or purity. A refractometer is the instrument used to measure refractive index...

.

In 1898 he became the rector of the University of Geneva. He died in April 1904 due to gastrointestinal illness, a few days after a successful operation.

Sources