PETER DEBYE (1884- ) Chemistry and physics are now so closely knit together that no unnatural comment was raised when the 1936 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded t o a ph sicist for his studies of the structure of molecules as revealed i y dippole measurements and Xray interference. Peter Debye, born March 24, 1884, a t Maastricht, Holland. was trained a t Aachen (Dipl. ing. 1905), and Munich (Ph.D. 1908). His mature teaching career has included chairs in theoretical physics and direction of the laboratories a t Ziirich (1910). Utrecht (1912). Gzttingen (1914), Technical High School, Ziirich (1920), Leipzig (1927)! Berlin (1935). ,Since 1935 he has also been Drrector of the Katser Wdhelm lnstntut fiir Phyrlk a t Berlin-Dahlem. The principal p a l of Professor Debye's work, both theoretical and e~nerimental,has been to eain a more accurate insieht into the moiecular a n d atomic structire of matter in order t o ; k v e a t a clearer understanding of the behavior of materials. The chemists have benefited particularly from some of his many fields of research. His studies of X-ray diffraction led to the "powder" method of investigating materials and t o the discovery of inter-
ference in liquids and eventually by single molecules. He has developed the use of dielectric and interferential procedures for determining structure. He has studied the resolution of spectral lines by refraction in liquids. He discovered a magnetic method of producing very low temperatures and has studied the T3 law of specific heats a t low temperatures. To him we owe the introduction of electrical dipoles t o explain dielectric phenomena and the elucidation of anomalous dispersion and absorption in the field of electrical waves (high frequency losses). Most chemists know his name coupled with that of Erich Hiickel; they have presented a n extremely useful fundamental picture of an electrolytic solution. Professor Dehve has been awarded honorary doctorates by Brussels, LiCge, Oxford, Harvard; he is a member of numerous academies and learned societies in Germany, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, U. S. S. R., Vatican City. Switzerland. England, and the United States (National Academy of Sciences, American Philosophical Society). His medals are: Rumford (1930); Farads? (1932): Lorentz (1935): Franklin (1937). (Confribufrd by Rolpl, I.'. Owper, U n i u r r ~ i f yqf Cineinnali)
