THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK C&EN REPORTS: ACS Chicago Section. Willard Gibbs Medal Award
Gibbs M e d a l A w a r d e d to G i a u q u e For L o w Temperature Research Medalist reviews low temperature research a n d explains his technique of adiabatic demagnetization CHICAGO.-The Willard Gibbs Medal was presented to William F. Giauque, University of California, here on May 18. This was the fortieth annual presentation of the award by the Chicago Section of the AMEUICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY.
Dr. Giauque was honored "for extending science into the hitherto unattained region approaching the absolute zero of temperature and thereby contributing notably to fundamental thermodynamic theory and practice: attainment and measurement of temperatures just above absolute zero by highly original and skillful means; measurement and calculation of entropies and other important properties of substances at these temperatures, resulting directly in the verification of the third law of thermodynamics and in the resolution of the critical discrepany in the entropies of hydrogen and incidentally in the discovery of the heavy isotopes of oxygen." In his description of the award, Byron Riegel, chairman of the Section, declared that one of the outstanding factors is the meticulous method of choosing the win-
ner. He explained that the choice is made by a national jury of outstanding experts in the different fields of chemistry. Both industrial and educational institutions are represented and the jurors are chosen from all parts of the country. Dr. Riegel called attention to the many honors which had been previously awarded to Giauque and pointed out that he had been nominated for the Gibbs Medal in 1949. At this time he was a strong contender for the award, but his name was withdrawn because he was selected for the Nobel Prize in that year. Over 200 letters and telegrams of congratulations were received. Dr. Riegel read excerpts from a letter from Mrs. W. A. Converse, widow of the founder of the award. The similarity of the work and methods of Dr. Giauque to those of Gibbs was pointed out by John W. Stout, Jr., University of Chicago. Dr. Stout was a former student of the medalist. He commented on the scientific accomplishments of Dr. Giauque. High points were his studies of the entropy of hydrogen and collabora-
At the reception following the award presentation were: M. H. Arveson of Indoil, new ACS director; Harvey F. Mack, president of Mack Printing Co.; and E. C. Britton of Dow, ACS President-Elect, who presented the award
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William F. Giauque, University of California, presents his Gibbs Medal address on low temperature research tion on the discovery of the oxygen 18 and the oxygen 17 isotopes, Stout said. "However, the most important thing is his systematic work and the large amount of data which he accumulated providing proof of the third law of thermodynamics," Dr. Stout declared. Determined Commenting on the personal side of the medalist, Earl A. Long, University of Chicago, said that Giauque the scientist was essentially inseparable from Giauque the man. He described the medalist as "modest and kindly, but extremely determined." The medal was presented to Dr. Giauque by Edgar C. Britton, Dow Chemical Co., President-Elect of the ACS. Dr. Britton called attention to the fundamental difficulty of Giauque's field of interest and the lack of other workers in the field that could be called upon for help. "His work has added immeasurably to our fund of knowledge of the properties of materials," Dr. Britton said. In his award address, Dr. Giauque reviewed quite briefly his entropy studies, lie showed heat capacity curves for several different materials and pointing out the various maxima and minima, said that it was difficult, if not impossible, to predict this data. He explained that the fundamental object of his investigations was to establish the third law of thermodynamics. This law states that the entropy of a perfect crystalline substance will be zero when the absolute temperature is zero. Although to disprove a proposed thermodynamic relationship may require only a A N D
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few experiments, to establish fully such as a law requires a great mass of data, Giauque said. In a description of his experimental techniques, Giauque emphasized the im portance of high precision to tell just when the substance being studied had come to equilibrium. He mentioned the high precision thermometers used in his work and explained that recalibration was necessary before each run. The resistance of finely divided carbon was used as a secondary temperature indication for many of the experiments, he said. Refrigeration and Adiabatic Demagnetization Probably the most nearly unique aspect of the medalist's technique was his ap plication of adiabatic demagnetization to his low temperature research. By means of schematic diagrams, be drew the anal ogy between refrigeration by means of an idealized expansion engine and his method of adiabatic demagnetization. He explained an ordered system has no en tropy and that the influence of the mag netic field is to bring about ordered molecular orientation. Giauque first applied his method of adiabatic demagnetization to his experi ments with gadolinium in 1933. At this time he and his coworkers were able to reach temperatures in the neighborhood of 0.5° to 0.25° A. In subsequent work they have been able to reach a temperature of 0.001° A. In his concluding remarks, Dr. Giauque revealed plans for using a much larger magnetic field in future researches. At the University of California there is now on hand a generator rated at 8000 amperes at 700 volts which will be used in the new experimental setup, he said. The Gibbs Medal has been awarded an nually since its founding in 1910 with the exception of the year 1928. Last year's award was made to Carl S. Marvel. Previous winners have included such out standing individuals as Thomas Midgley, Jr., Irving Langmuir, T. W. Richards, and Svante Arrhenius.
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