MAY. 1952
RALPH E. OESPER University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
GEORG-MARIASCHWAB,eminent physical chemist, presents a fine example of a scientist who was not overcome by the force of adverse circumstances. With head held high, he has always kept his eyes steadily on his life's objective: to teach chemistry effectively and to contribute to its . progress by first class writingand research. Son of the well-known journalist Joseph Schwab, Georr-Maria was born at Berlin on Fehrnarv 3. 1899. Afte;~orld War I he entered the university of'Berlin and received the Ph.D. degree in 1923. His dissertation, prepared under the guidance of E. H. Riesenfeld in Nernst's famous Institnt, described the first preparation of pure ozone, its solidification, and the determins, tion of its physical constants. Dr Schwab served as assistant to Nernst's successor, Max Bodenstein,' until 1925. In Nernst's school he was trained in classical physical chemistry; under Bodenstein he became a kineticist. However, he was not a mere follower of Bodenstein but, from the start, worked on his own problems, such as the thermal decomposition of methane, reactions in cold discharges, and the dissolution velocity of gases. In 1925 he migrated to the University of Wiirzburg and habilitated as Privatdozent in 1927. There he studied the catalytic decomposition of ammonia, active hydrogen, dissolution of gases, . and photochlorination. In 1928 Wieland invited him to the University of Munich: he was ~romotedto extraordinam ~rofessor in 1933: The work on heterogenious caial>sis was broadened with the aid of a number of collaborators. Some of the fields which engaged him and his students were: the kinetics of heterogeneous catalysis, the OESPER,R. E., J. CAEM.EDUC., 15, 151 (1938); S C ~ A G. B, M., W i a . Chen. Ztg., 46,9 (1943).
nature of the heat of adsorption, the poisoning of catalysts, the distribution of active centers, the p r o p erties of atomic chlorine and bromine, the influence of organic radicals on parahydrogen. During this period came his invention of inorganic chromatography. Numerous papers record his findings. Among his books are "Physikalisch-chemische Grnndlagen der chemischen Technologie" (1928) and "Katalyse vom Standpunkt der chemischen Kinetik" (1931). The latter text has been translated (with additions) by H. S. Taylor and R. Spence, and is used widely in American universities. Professor Schwab edited the monumental international "Handbuch der Katalyse," of which 7 volumes have appeared. In 1939 the increasing racial persecution forced this distinguished chemist to leave his fatherland. He emigrated to Greece where for 11 years he headed an industrial research laboratory. Fortunately he was allowed to continue his purely scientific work, though difficulties arose during the German occupation. This troubled period was nonetheless fruitful. In addition to incidental studies (adsorbing carbon, turn-over transitions, parahydrogen, chromatographic studies) his kinetic studies led him to a conclusive theory of the electronic mechanism of metal catalysis. He was appointed Professor of Physical Chemistry a t the Athens National University of Technical Science in 1950. The next year he was recalled to Munich to take over the chair of physical chemistry, a post previously occupied with distinction by Fajans and then by C l u s i ~ s . ~ However, Professor Schwab, imbued with the importance of active scientific cooper* tion, continues to give coumes twice each year a t Athens. OESPER,R. E., J. CHEM.EDUO.. 28.321 (1951).
