LUDWIG EBERT NELLY KONOPIK University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria (Translated by R a l p h E. Oesper) (JOHANNES) LUDWIG EBERT was born on June 19,1894, a t Wiirzburg, the old episcopal and university city in Franconia (Bavaria). Those who knew this city before the widespread destruction by bombing in 1945 remember it as a place filled with festive cheerfulness and love of music, where Walther von der Vogelweide passed the sunset of his life, where Riemenschneider created his immortal art works, and where Roentgen discovered X-rays. Consequently, it is not difficult to see why the young Ebert was attracted simultaneously toward music and science. Though he finally decided in favor of science, and one of his sons, Klaus (at present assistant to F. Paneth a t the Max Planck Institut in Mainz) followed in his footsteps, his'three other children have acquired an international reputation in chamber music circles as the Ehert Trio. Ebert began his chemical training in 1912 a t Wiirzburg under E. Biichner and also studied physics under W. Wien. His military senrice and World War I consumed almost seven years and it was not until his return from captivity in France that he was really able t o resume his studies, in the spring of 1920. The head of the 'hemical Institut a t Wiirzburg was 0. Dimroth (1872-1940), an organic chemist with a rare appreciation for the then rapidly developing physical chemistry. This branch was represented a t the University of Wiirzburg by H. v. Halban (1877-1947), who was the pioneer in the use of photoelectric cells for solviw chemical problems. Ehert became his co-worker and completed his doctoral dissertation under his guidance. This study dealt with the optical absorption of dissolved salts (1) and especially the validity of Beer's law for strong electroly
