Peter Debye

@American-dutch Chemist, Career and Childhood

Peter Debye a Nobel Prize winning chemist of Dutch origin who developed the ‘Debye Model’

Mar 24, 1884

AmericanScientistsChemistsPhysical ChemistsAries Celebrities
Biography

Personal Details

  • Birthday: March 24, 1884
  • Died on: November 2, 1966
  • Nationality: American
  • Famous: American-dutch Chemist, Scientists, Chemists, Physical Chemists
  • Known as: Peter J. W. Debye
  • Universities:
    • RWTH Aachen University
    • Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
  • Birth Place: Maastricht

Peter Debye born at

Maastricht

Unsplash
Birth Place

Peter exchanged nuptial vows with Mathilde Alberer on April 10, 1913. The couple had two children; a son named Peter Paul Ruprecht and daughter named Maria. Their son went on to become a chemist and even assisted his father in several experiments.

Unsplash
Personal Life

The world saw the last of this eminent scientist on November 2, 1966 when he succumbed to a heart attack. He was interred in USA at the ‘Pleasant Grove Cemetery’.

Unsplash
Personal Life

Peter Joseph William Debye was born to William Debije and Maria Reumkens in the Maastricht town of Netherlands.

Unsplash
Childhood & Early Life

Since his birth on March 24, 1884, Debye spent most of his childhood in his native town. After completing his secondary schooling, in 1901, Peter went to attend the ‘Technische Hochschule’ (Technical Institute of Aachen) in Germany.

Unsplash
Childhood & Early Life

Joseph successfully completed his diploma in electrical engineering in the year 1905 and was recruited as a research assistant in Aachen the same year, where he was mentored by Arnold Sommerfeld.

Unsplash
Childhood & Early Life

In 1906, Debye accompanied his mentor who was appointed at the ‘University of Munich’. Working on eddy currents, the budding scientist presented his first paper the following year.

Unsplash
Career

For his doctoral dissertation, Peter studied the pressure resulting in rectangular surface subjected to electromagnetic radiation. He successfully defended his thesis and was awarded a degree in the year 1908.

Unsplash
Career

He continued working as a Privatdozent in Munich until 1911, when he was appointed as a professor of theoretical physics in Zurich. The post at ‘University of Zurich’ was held by renowned physicist Albert Einstein who had moved to Prague.

Unsplash
Career

The year 1912, was a milestone in his career as he made several pioneering discoveries. Through his studies on electric charges in asymmetric molecular systems, he established the relationship between dipole moments, dielectric constant and temperature.

Unsplash
Career

He furthered the concept of specific heat propounded by Einstein, through careful observation of how the phonons contribute to specific heat capacity of a solid substance. The resulting methodology was named ‘Debeye Model’ after the eminent physicist.

Unsplash
Career

Debye’s most significant contribution to the field of chemistry was the study of covalent bonds in which regard he developed the ‘Debye Equation’. He correlated the dipole moments to better understand the electric charge distribution existing in an asymmetric molecule

Unsplash
Major Works