Debye, Peter

March 24, 1884, Mr.. - November 2, 1966
Netherlands-American physicist Peter Joseph William Debye (Petrus Wilhelmus Yozefus Debo) was born in g. Maastricht in the Netherlands in the family of Mary Debo (nee Ryumkens) and Wilhelmus Johannes Debo, controller of the company for the production of metal wire. In elementary and secondary school I studied foreign languages, mathematics and science. After leaving school in 1901. he entered Ahensky Technical University in Germany on Electrical Engineer.
In Aachen Debye (so he later began to write his name) expressed interest in chemistry and physics. One of his teachers, the physicist Max Wien, let D. conduct simple experiments in the institute's physics laboratory when it was free, and that awakened his interest in research. As a student last year, he was already an assistant of Arnold Sommerfeld, who later became a professor of technical mechanics.
In 1906, a year after obtaining a diploma in electrical engineering, Dr.. followed Sommerfeld moved to the University of Munich, where he worked for five years as his assistant. In 1908, Mr.. D. completed his dissertation on the light pressure on the balls, having electrical properties, and received a doctorate in physics. Two years later he became a lecturer at Munich University, but withdrew it in 1911, went to the University of Zurich in Switzerland to Albert Einstein, where he became professor of theoretical physics.
In Zurich, D. began to study the structure of molecules. Although the chemical composition of complex molecules was largely already known, while there were only limited data on the physical and structural connections between atoms. During the year, D. focused on the distribution of electrical charges in atoms and molecules. Of particular interest he has shown in the polarity (orientation of positive and negative charge) and found, . that knowledge of the degree of polarity (dipole moment of the molecule and its constituent atoms) to evaluate the relative positions of atoms chemically linked,
. D
. In 1912, Mr.
. D. demonstrated the relationship between the diffracted beams and the thermal motion of atoms in crystals. The decision came in 1916, . when, , , , ,
. D. In same 1923 year. D. has developed a theory of Compton effect (named in honor of Arthur X. Compton), providing further evidence, a wave of corpuscular nature of light.
Between 1927 and 1934. D. the University of Leipzig studied the X-ray diffraction in the measurement of interatomic distances in gases and continued to study the dipole theory and electrolytes. Then he joined in Berlinsky University where under its control created Institut fiziki Wilhelminian (nowadays Institut Maksa Planka). Here he used electrolytes in the diffraction studies of gases.
In 1936, Mr.. D. was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 'for his contribution to our understanding of the molecular structure in the course of research dipolar phenomena and diffraction of X-rays and electrons in gases'. K teoreticheskoi significance his discoveries later added work, whereby were substantially improved methods production explosives, medicines, dyes and other chemical reagents.
. Although him were given guarantees that he Being citizen Netherlands, can work in Berlin, in 1939
. D. was dismissed from the laboratory due to lack of German citizenship. Angered by this decision, D. went to read Beykerovskie lecture at Cornell University in Ithaca (New York), and remained there, soon becoming the dean of the Faculty of Chemical. As a result of his work at Cornell University and the laboratories of the company 'Bell' have developed new ways of calculating the size of the molecules of complex polymers.
In 1946, Mr.. D. received American citizenship. In 1952, Mr.. He resigned from Cornell University, where he was awarded the title of Honorary Professor. But after that he continued his studies with polymers. In addition to lecturing, he was in 1960. devoted much time organizing the Scientific and Technological Institute of the University of Michigan.
In 1914, Mr.. D. married Matilda Alberer with which to raise her son and daughter. His students and colleagues know how friendly and attentive, he treated all, valued him as a wonderful lecturer. In his spare time Dr.. fond of fishing. He died on November 2, 1966, Mr.. in Ithaca from a heart attack.
In addition to the Nobel Prize, Dr.. has been awarded many prizes and awards. He was awarded Rumford Medal of the Royal Society of London (1930), Medal of X. Lorentz Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences of the Netherlands (1935), Medal of the Franklin Institute Franklinovskogo (1937), Medal of J. Willard Gibbs (1949) and Medal J. Priestley American Chemical Society (1963). He was also awarded honorary degrees from Harvard University and Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, University of St.. Lawrence, Colgate University, the Zurich Federal Institute of Technology, Boston College, Oxford University and universities of Brussels, Liege and Sofia. He was a member of the Royal Society of London, . American Physical Society, . American Chemical Society, . American Philosophical Society, . Franklinovskogo Institute, . Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences of the Netherlands, . Brussels Scientific Society, . Academies of Sciences of GцІttingen, . Munich, . Berlin, . Boston and Washington,
. Was a foreign member of USSR Academy of Sciences.