The Early History of the Development of the Glass Electrode for pH Measurements Malcolm Dole Raylor Uniuersity Waco, TX 76703 The first observation that changes in the acidity of an aaueous solution in contact with a elass memhrane could change the electrical potential across the memhrane was made by the biologist Cremer ( I ) in 1906 when he added sodium hydroxide to a O.fi% aqueous NaCl solution in contact with the glass and found greatly to his astonishment that the electrical potential difference across the memhrane increased by 360 mv. This result intrigued Haber (who was to win the Nohel prize in chemistry in 1918 for his method of synthesizing ammonia from its elements) and he invited his Polish student 2. Klemensiewicz (2) to investigate this property of glass membranes. Later Klemensiewiczworked with Madame Curie and became finally Professor of Physics a t the Technical University of Lwow. Deported by the Russians from Lwow in Poland in 1940. he soent a vear and a half in orisons and concentration camps, hut eventually found his way to London in 1944 with the help of Gen. Anders Polish Forces. In 1947 he was given a temporary position in a British Technical College from which he wrote to me in 1949 as follows:
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I came to Karlsruhe in Novemher 1908. . . . I was then 22. Haber proposed to me to explore the glass electrode, the interest for this topic having been suggested to him by the earlier work of Cremer. They tried already in Karlsruhe some experiment3 before 1 came, hut without success. I have been handed over the respective apparatus, consisting of a piece of broken glass-cylinder about 3 mm thick, with a tin-foil stieked around. 1 saw at once that such an element could never work, being short-circuited all over the moist glass surface. Althoueh .. I didn't know st this staee that elass~balloanshave been u w l In ( h w r t n n d p r ~1011
