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Agnes Pockels

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Agnes Pockels
Born(1862-02-14)February 14, 1862
Venice, Italy
DiedNovember 21, 1935(1935-11-21) (aged 73)
Brunswick, Germany
NationalityGerman
Known forPioneer of surface science
Scientific career
FieldsChemistry/Physics

Agnes Luise Wilhelmine Pockels (February 14, 1862 – November 21, 1935), was a German pioneer in chemistry. Her work was fundamental in establishing the modern discipline known as surface science, which describes the properties of liquid and solid surfaces.[1]

Early life and education

Pockels was born in Venice, Italy, in 1862. At the time, Venice was under Austrian rule, and Pockels' father served in the Austrian Army. When he fell sick with malaria, the family moved in 1871 to Brunswick, Lower Saxony, which was part of the nascent German Empire.[1] There, Pockels attended the Municipal High School for Girls.[2]

As a child, Pockels was interested in science, and would have liked to study physics.[3] In those days, however, women had no access to universities. It was only through her younger brother, Friedrich Carl Alwin Pockels, that she gained access to scientific literature.[1] Friedrich, who then studied at the University of Göttingen, was a famous scientist himself; he is known for the Pockels effect.

Research and later life

As legend has it, Pockels discovered the influence of impurities on the surface tension of fluids doing the dishes in her own kitchen. She was unwed and the caretaker of her ailing parents, so she spent much time cooking and cleaning with various oils, soaps, and other household products.[1] Despite her lack of formal training, Pockels was able to measure the surface tension of water by devising an apparatus known as the Pockels trough, a key instrument in the new discipline of surface science. Using an improved version of this slide trough, American chemist Irving Langmuir made additional discoveries on the properties of surface molecules, which earned him a Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1932.[4] Pockels' device is also a direct antecedent of the Langmuir–Blodgett trough,[5] developed later by Langmuir and physicist Katharine Blodgett.

In 1891, with the help of Lord Rayleigh, Pockels published her first paper, "Surface Tension," on her measurements in the journal Nature.[6] Thus began her career studying surface films. She never received a formal appointment, but she published a number of papers and eventually received recognition as a pioneer in the new field of surface science.

Pockels died in 1935 in Brunswick, Germany. She never married.

Honors and awards

In 1931, together with Henri Devaux, Pockels received the Laura Leonard award from the Colloid Society. In the following year, the Braunschweig University of Technology granted her an honorary PhD.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Byers, Nina (ed); Williams, Gary (2010). Out of the Shadows : Contributions of Twentieth-Century Women to Physics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 36–42. ISBN 9780521169622. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  2. ^ "150th Birthday of Agnes Pockels". ChemViews. 14 February 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  3. ^ Helm, Christiane A.; Ernst-Moritz Arndt; Uni Greifswald. "Agnes Pockels: Life, Letters and Papers". American Physical Society. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1932". Nobel Prize.org. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  5. ^ "Agnes Pockels: The Invention of the "Slide Trough"". X Timeline. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  6. ^ Pockels, Agnes (12 March 1891). "Surface Tension" (PDF). Nature. 43: 437–439. Bibcode:1891Natur..43..437B. doi:10.1038/043437b0. Retrieved 13 July 2013.

Additional resources

  • C.H. Giles and S.D. Forrester, "The origins of the surface film balance: Studies in the early history of surface chemistry, part 3", Chemistry and Industry, pp. 43–53 (9 January 1971). (Note: This article contains one of the most detailed story on Agnes Pockels, including photos on her and her family.)
  • Charles Tanford, Ben Franklin stilled the waves: An informal history of pouring oil on water with reflections on the ups and downs of scientific life in general, Oxford University Press, 2004.
  • M. Elizabeth Derrick, "Agnes Pockels, 1862-1935", Journal of Chemical Education, vol. 59, no. 12, pp. 1030–1031 (Dec. 1982).
  • Andrea Kruse and Sonja M. Schwarzl. "Zum Beispiel Agnes Pockels." In: Nachrichten aus der Chemie, 06, 2002.
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