Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff was born on August 30, 1852 in Rotter Dam, Netherlandsas the third of seven children and son of Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff Sr. a physician, and Alida Jacoba Kolff.
In 1869 he studied at the polytechnic at Delft, and later studied at the university of Leiben in 1871. He had also studied with people such as F. A. Kekule at Bonn in1872, and with C. A. Wurtz at Paris in 1873. In 1874 he took his doctor's degree with E. Mulder at Utrecht. In 1876 he then became lecturer on physics at the veterinary school at Utrecht. In 1878 he was chosen professor of chemistry, mineralogy and geology in Amsterdam University, however in 1894 he declined an invitation to the chair of physics at Berlin University.
In 1896 he went to Berlin as professor to the Prussian Academy of Sciences with a salary and a laboratory, but also possessed the freedom to do whatever he liked. He then accepted an honorary professorship in the university so that he might give lectures whenever he wanted . On March 1st, 1911 he had died in Steglitz, Berlin, Germany as a result of tuberculosis at age of 58.
Interesting Facts
Before receiving his doctorate, he had already published the first of his important contributions to organic chemistry
He was a lover of nature and frequently took part in the botanical excursions and he enjoyed the mountains in the area taking long walks in company or alone
In 1878 he had married Johanna Francina Mees. They had two daughters, Johanna Francina in 1880 and Aleida Jacoba in 1882 as well as two sons. Jacobus Hendricus in 1883 and Govert Jacob in 1889.
The van 't Hoff factor is a unit less, empirical constant related to the degree of dissociation of the solute
Van 't Hoff became famous through his contribution to stereo chemistry
Van 't Hoff was to become world-famous with his structural theory, but he did not win the Nobel Prize for it
Van ‘t Hoff’s theory was received with cautious optimism by many chemists, although few came out for it in public early on.
He was the winner of the first Nobel Prize award in Chemistry in 1901 during peak of his career
Major Experiments, Contributions, or Discoveries
He discovered the laws of chemical dynamics and of osmotic pressure.
He researched on chemical kinetics, chemical equilibrium, osmotic pressure and crystallography.
His major work was on crystallography, and crystallography is the experimental science of determining the arrangement of atoms in solids, but in older usage of the word then it is the study of crystals.
He discovered osmotic pressure when he was working on his last years on inorganic salt.
He started combined older attempts to represent atoms by geometric symbols with Kekulé's teaching of a quadrivalent carbon atom.
Jacobus Henricus Van't Hoff's theory was substances that shows optical rotation do so because of the asymmetric structure of their molecules.
The University of Amsterdam offered him its professorship in chemistry.
In 1884 he published his research on chemical kinetics, naming it Études de Dynamique chimique ("Studies in Chemical Dynamics").
In 1885 he was appointed member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences.
In 1893 he was awarded with the Davy medal of the Royal Society.
In 1894 he was also appointed Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur (Chevalier of the Legion of Honor).
He got the honorary doctorates of Harvard and Yale in 1901, Victoria University, Manchester in 1903, Heidelberg in 1908.
He won the Nobel Prize in 1901 for Chemistry, the first year was when the Nobel Prizes were distributed.
Here is an equation that was first derived from Jacobus Henricus van't Hoff
Here is a video showing osmotic pressure using a gummy bear.
Jacobus Henricus van't Hoff
Personal History
Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff was born on August 30, 1852 in Rotter Dam, Netherlands as the third of seven children and son of Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff Sr. a physician, and Alida Jacoba Kolff.
In 1869 he studied at the polytechnic at Delft, and later studied at the university of Leiben in 1871. He had also studied with people such as F. A. Kekule at Bonn in 1872, and with C. A. Wurtz at Paris in 1873. In 1874 he took his doctor's degree with E. Mulder at Utrecht. In 1876 he then became lecturer on physics at the veterinary school at Utrecht. In 1878 he was chosen professor of chemistry, mineralogy and geology in Amsterdam University, however in 1894 he declined an invitation to the chair of physics at Berlin University.
In 1896 he went to Berlin as professor to the Prussian Academy of Sciences with a salary and a laboratory, but also possessed the freedom to do whatever he liked. He then accepted an honorary professorship in the university so that he might give lectures whenever he wanted . On March 1st, 1911 he had died in Steglitz, Berlin, Germany as a result of tuberculosis at age of 58.
Interesting Facts
Major Experiments, Contributions, or Discoveries
Here is an equation that was first derived from Jacobus Henricus van't Hoff
Here is a video showing osmotic pressure using a gummy bear.
References:
Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. September 24, 2008. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. September 25, 2008. <**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobus_Henricus_van_' t_Hoff**>.
Jacobus H. van't Hoff - Bibliography. Nobel Lectures. Elsevier Publishing Company. September 22, 2008 <**http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/ chemistry/laureates/1901/hoff-bio.html**>.
J H van t Hoff - Factbites. September 26, 2008. <**http://www.factbites.com/topics/J-H-van-t-Hoff**>.
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