Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff
Encyclopedia
Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Jr. (30 August 1852 – 1 March 1911) was a Dutch physical
and organic chemist
and the first winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry
. He is best known for his discoveries in chemical kinetics
, chemical equilibrium
, osmotic pressure
, and stereochemistry
. Van 't Hoff's work in these subjects helped found the discipline of physical chemistry as it is today.
, the Netherlands. His father was Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Sr., a physician, and his mother was Alida Kolff van 't Hoff. From a young age he was interested in science and nature, and frequently took part in botanical excursions. In his early school years, he showed a strong interest in poetry and philosophy
. He considered Lord Byron to be his idol.
Against the wishes of his father, van 't Hoff chose to study chemistry
. First, he enrolled at Delft University of Technology
in September 1869, and studied until 1871, when he passed his final exam on at 8 July and obtained a degree of chemical technologist
. He passed all his courses in two years, although the time assigned to study was three years. Then he enrolled at University of Leiden to study chemistry. He then studied in Bonn
, Germany with Friedrich Kekulé
and in Paris with C. A. Wurtz
. He received his doctorate
under Eduard Mulder at the University of Utrecht
in 1874.
In 1878, van 't Hoff married Johanna Francina Mees. They had two daughters, Johanna Francina (b. 1880) and Aleida Jacoba (b. 1882), and two sons, Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff III (b. 1883) and Govert Jacob (b. 1889). Van 't Hoff died at the age of 58, on 1 March 1911, at Steglitz
near Berlin from tuberculosis
.
Before he received his doctorate, van 't Hoff had already published the first of his important contributions to the field of organic chemistry
. In 1874 he accounted for the phenomenon of optical activity by assuming that the chemical bond
s between carbon
atom
s and their neighbors were directed towards the corners of a regular tetrahedron
. This three-dimensional structure accounted for the isomer
s found in nature. He shares credit for this with the French chemist Joseph Le Bel, who independently came up with the same idea.
Van 't Hoff published his work on stereochemistry
in his book La chimie dans l'espace in 1874. At the time, his theory was considered revolutionary and was strongly criticized by the scientific community. One such critic was the renowned editor of the German Journal für praktische Chemie, Adolph Kolbe, who stated:
In 1884, van 't Hoff published his research on chemical kinetics, titled Études de Dynamique chimique ("Studies in Chemical Dynamics"), in which he described a new method for determining the order of a reaction using graphics
, and applied the laws of thermodynamics
to chemical equilibria. He also introduced the modern concept of chemical affinity
. In 1886, he showed a similarity between the behaviour of dilute solutions and gases. In 1887, he and German chemist Wilhelm Ostwald
founded an influential scientific magazine named Zeitschrift für physikalische Chemie ("Journal of Physical Chemistry"). He worked on Svante Arrhenius
's theory of the dissociation of electrolytes and in 1889 provided physical justification for the Arrhenius equation
. In 1896, he became a professor at the Prussian Academy of Science
in Berlin. His studies of the salt deposits at Stassfurt were an important contribution to Prussia's chemical industry.
Van 't Hoff became a lecturer in chemistry and physics at the Veterinary
College in Utrecht
. He then worked as a professor of chemistry, mineralogy
, and geology
at the University of Amsterdam for almost 18 years before eventually becoming the chairman of the chemistry department. In 1896 van 't Hoff moved to Germany where he finished his career at the University of Berlin in 1911. In 1901 he received the first Nobel Prize in chemistry
for his work with solution
s. His work showed that very dilute solutions follow mathematical laws that closely resemble the laws describing the behavior of gas
es.
and Yale
(1901), Victoria University
, Manchester University (1903), and University of Heidelberg (1908). He was awarded the Davy Medal of the Royal Society
in 1893 (along with Le Bel), and the Helmholtz Medal of the Prussian Academy of Sciences
(1911). He was also appointed Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur (1894) and Senator der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft (1911). van 't Hoff became an honorary member of the British Chemical Society in London, the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences in Göttingen (1892), American Chemical Society
(1898), and the Académie des Sciences, in Paris (1905). Of his numerous distinctions, van 't Hoff regarded winning the first Nobel Prize in Chemistry as the culmination of his career.
Physical chemistry
Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic, atomic, subatomic, and particulate phenomena in chemical systems in terms of physical laws and concepts...
and organic chemist
Organic chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-based compounds, hydrocarbons, and their derivatives...
and the first winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
. He is best known for his discoveries in chemical kinetics
Chemical kinetics
Chemical kinetics, also known as reaction kinetics, is the study of rates of chemical processes. Chemical kinetics includes investigations of how different experimental conditions can influence the speed of a chemical reaction and yield information about the reaction's mechanism and transition...
, chemical equilibrium
Chemical equilibrium
In a chemical reaction, chemical equilibrium is the state in which the concentrations of the reactants and products have not yet changed with time. It occurs only in reversible reactions, and not in irreversible reactions. Usually, this state results when the forward reaction proceeds at the same...
, osmotic pressure
Osmotic pressure
Osmotic pressure is the pressure which needs to be applied to a solution to prevent the inward flow of water across a semipermeable membrane....
, and stereochemistry
Stereochemistry
Stereochemistry, a subdiscipline of chemistry, involves the study of the relative spatial arrangement of atoms within molecules. An important branch of stereochemistry is the study of chiral molecules....
. Van 't Hoff's work in these subjects helped found the discipline of physical chemistry as it is today.
Biography
The third of seven children, van 't Hoff was born in RotterdamRotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, the Netherlands. His father was Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Sr., a physician, and his mother was Alida Kolff van 't Hoff. From a young age he was interested in science and nature, and frequently took part in botanical excursions. In his early school years, he showed a strong interest in poetry and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. He considered Lord Byron to be his idol.
Against the wishes of his father, van 't Hoff chose to study chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
. First, he enrolled at Delft University of Technology
Delft University of Technology
Delft University of Technology , also known as TU Delft, is the largest and oldest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands...
in September 1869, and studied until 1871, when he passed his final exam on at 8 July and obtained a degree of chemical technologist
Industrial technology
Industrial technology is the field concerned with the application of basic engineering principles and technical skills in support of industrial engineers and managers...
. He passed all his courses in two years, although the time assigned to study was three years. Then he enrolled at University of Leiden to study chemistry. He then studied in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, Germany with Friedrich Kekulé
Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz
Friedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz was a German organic chemist. From the 1850s until his death, Kekule was one of the most prominent chemists in Europe, especially in theoretical chemistry...
and in Paris with C. A. Wurtz
Charles-Adolphe Wurtz
Adolphe Wurtz was an Alsatian French chemist. He is best remembered for his decades-long advocacy for the atomic theory and for ideas about the structures of chemical compounds, against the skeptical opinions of chemists such as Marcellin Berthelot and Etienne Henri Sainte-Claire Deville...
. He received his doctorate
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
under Eduard Mulder at the University of Utrecht
Utrecht University
Utrecht University is a university in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe. Established March 26, 1636, it had an enrollment of 29,082 students in 2008, and employed 8,614 faculty and staff, 570 of which are full professors....
in 1874.
In 1878, van 't Hoff married Johanna Francina Mees. They had two daughters, Johanna Francina (b. 1880) and Aleida Jacoba (b. 1882), and two sons, Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff III (b. 1883) and Govert Jacob (b. 1889). Van 't Hoff died at the age of 58, on 1 March 1911, at Steglitz
Steglitz
Steglitz is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in the south-west of Berlin, the capital of Germany. The locality also includes the neighbourhood of Südende.-History:...
near Berlin from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
.
Career
Organic chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-based compounds, hydrocarbons, and their derivatives...
. In 1874 he accounted for the phenomenon of optical activity by assuming that the chemical bond
Chemical bond
A chemical bond is an attraction between atoms that allows the formation of chemical substances that contain two or more atoms. The bond is caused by the electromagnetic force attraction between opposite charges, either between electrons and nuclei, or as the result of a dipole attraction...
s between carbon
Carbon
Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...
atom
Atom
The atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons...
s and their neighbors were directed towards the corners of a regular tetrahedron
Tetrahedron
In geometry, a tetrahedron is a polyhedron composed of four triangular faces, three of which meet at each vertex. A regular tetrahedron is one in which the four triangles are regular, or "equilateral", and is one of the Platonic solids...
. This three-dimensional structure accounted for the isomer
Isomer
In chemistry, isomers are compounds with the same molecular formula but different structural formulas. Isomers do not necessarily share similar properties, unless they also have the same functional groups. There are many different classes of isomers, like stereoisomers, enantiomers, geometrical...
s found in nature. He shares credit for this with the French chemist Joseph Le Bel, who independently came up with the same idea.
Van 't Hoff published his work on stereochemistry
Stereochemistry
Stereochemistry, a subdiscipline of chemistry, involves the study of the relative spatial arrangement of atoms within molecules. An important branch of stereochemistry is the study of chiral molecules....
in his book La chimie dans l'espace in 1874. At the time, his theory was considered revolutionary and was strongly criticized by the scientific community. One such critic was the renowned editor of the German Journal für praktische Chemie, Adolph Kolbe, who stated:
"A Dr. H. van ’t Hoff of the Veterinary School at Utrecht has no liking, apparently, for exact chemical investigation. He has considered it more comfortable to mount Pegasus (apparently borrowed from the Veterinary School) and to proclaim in his ‘La chimie dans l’espace’ how the atoms appear to him to be arranged in space, when he is on the chemical Mt. Parnassus which he has reached by bold flight."
In 1884, van 't Hoff published his research on chemical kinetics, titled Études de Dynamique chimique ("Studies in Chemical Dynamics"), in which he described a new method for determining the order of a reaction using graphics
Graphics
Graphics are visual presentations on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, computer screen, paper, or stone to brand, inform, illustrate, or entertain. Examples are photographs, drawings, Line Art, graphs, diagrams, typography, numbers, symbols, geometric designs, maps, engineering drawings,or...
, and applied the laws of thermodynamics
Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is a physical science that studies the effects on material bodies, and on radiation in regions of space, of transfer of heat and of work done on or by the bodies or radiation...
to chemical equilibria. He also introduced the modern concept of chemical affinity
Chemical affinity
In chemical physics and physical chemistry, chemical affinity is the electronic property by which dissimilar chemical species are capable of forming chemical compounds...
. In 1886, he showed a similarity between the behaviour of dilute solutions and gases. In 1887, he and German chemist Wilhelm Ostwald
Wilhelm Ostwald
Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald was a Baltic German chemist. He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1909 for his work on catalysis, chemical equilibria and reaction velocities...
founded an influential scientific magazine named Zeitschrift für physikalische Chemie ("Journal of Physical Chemistry"). He worked on Svante Arrhenius
Svante Arrhenius
Svante August Arrhenius was a Swedish scientist, originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, and one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry...
's theory of the dissociation of electrolytes and in 1889 provided physical justification for the Arrhenius equation
Arrhenius equation
The Arrhenius equation is a simple, but remarkably accurate, formula for the temperature dependence of the reaction rate constant, and therefore, rate of a chemical reaction. The equation was first proposed by the Dutch chemist J. H. van 't Hoff in 1884; five years later in 1889, the Swedish...
. In 1896, he became a professor at the Prussian Academy of Science
Prussian Academy of Sciences
The Prussian Academy of Sciences was an academy established in Berlin on 11 July 1700, four years after the Akademie der Künste or "Arts Academy", to which "Berlin Academy" may also refer.-Origins:...
in Berlin. His studies of the salt deposits at Stassfurt were an important contribution to Prussia's chemical industry.
Van 't Hoff became a lecturer in chemistry and physics at the Veterinary
Veterinary medicine
Veterinary Medicine is the branch of science that deals with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, disorder and injury in non-human animals...
College in Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
. He then worked as a professor of chemistry, mineralogy
Mineralogy
Mineralogy is the study of chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization.-History:Early writing...
, and geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
at the University of Amsterdam for almost 18 years before eventually becoming the chairman of the chemistry department. In 1896 van 't Hoff moved to Germany where he finished his career at the University of Berlin in 1911. In 1901 he received the first Nobel Prize in chemistry
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
for his work with solution
Solution
In chemistry, a solution is a homogeneous mixture composed of only one phase. In such a mixture, a solute is dissolved in another substance, known as a solvent. The solvent does the dissolving.- Types of solutions :...
s. His work showed that very dilute solutions follow mathematical laws that closely resemble the laws describing the behavior of gas
Gas
Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
es.
Honours and awards
In 1885, van 't Hoff was appointed as a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences. Other distinctions include honorary doctorates from HarvardHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
(1901), Victoria University
Victoria University (UK)
Victoria University was an English federal university established by Royal Charter, 20 April 1880 at Manchester: a university for the North of England open to affiliation by colleges such as Owens College which immediately did so. University College Liverpool joined the University in 1884, followed...
, Manchester University (1903), and University of Heidelberg (1908). He was awarded the Davy Medal of the Royal Society
Davy Medal
The Davy Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of London "for an outstandingly important recent discovery in any branch of chemistry". Named after Humphry Davy, the medal is awarded with a gift of £1000. The medal was first awarded in 1877 to Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and Gustav Robert Kirchhoff "for...
in 1893 (along with Le Bel), and the Helmholtz Medal of the Prussian Academy of Sciences
Prussian Academy of Sciences
The Prussian Academy of Sciences was an academy established in Berlin on 11 July 1700, four years after the Akademie der Künste or "Arts Academy", to which "Berlin Academy" may also refer.-Origins:...
(1911). He was also appointed Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur (1894) and Senator der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft (1911). van 't Hoff became an honorary member of the British Chemical Society in London, the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences in Göttingen (1892), American Chemical Society
American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 161,000 members at all degree-levels and in all fields of chemistry, chemical...
(1898), and the Académie des Sciences, in Paris (1905). Of his numerous distinctions, van 't Hoff regarded winning the first Nobel Prize in Chemistry as the culmination of his career.
Further reading
- Patrick Coffey, Cathedrals of Science: The Personalities and Rivalries That Made Modern Chemistry, Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-19-532134-0
- Hornix WJ, Mannaerts SHWM, van't Hoff and the emergence of Chemical Thermodynamics, Delft University Press, 2001, ISBN 90-407-2259-5
External links
- Nobel Lecture Osmotic Pressure and Chemical Equilibrium from Nobelprize.org website