Peter Debye

@American-dutch Chemist, Career and Childhood ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Peter Debye a Nobel Prize winning chemist of Dutch origin who developed the ‘Debye Model’ American Scientists Chemists Physical Chemists Aries Celebrities Peter Debye was one of the leading physical chemists of his time whose studies in the field of molecular structure helped mankind develop a greater understanding of the subject. Having studied under the likes of great stalwarts like Arnold Sommerfeld, he began his academic career at the ‘University of Munich’ after obtaining a degree in electrical engineering. His prowess in the field marvelled his colleagues and contemporaries alike, when he propounded a simpler explanation of the Planck radiation formula. His reputation received a further boost when he was asked to succeed the legendary theoretical physicist Albert Einstein at the ‘University of Zurich’. It was in Zurich that he made his most remarkable discovery. He studied the structure of covalent bond in great detail and explained it using the concept dipole moment. He even conducted various light scattering experiments with Paul Scherrer and the duo came up with the ‘Debye-Scherrer method’. With the Nazi oppression on the rise he moved to United States where he spent his remaining life teaching and eventually obtained an American citizenship. Recently there have been speculations of his alliance with the Nazis and that he demanded resignation of Jewish employees in the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, while he was the director. Read on to know more about his life and works.

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 Information Detail 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 Gender Male Sun Sign Aries Born in Maastricht Famous as American-Dutch chemist Died at Age 82

Maastricht

Peter Debye born at 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

Information	Detail
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
Gender	Male
Sun Sign	Aries
Born in	Maastricht
Famous as	American-Dutch chemist
Died at Age	82

Peter Debye

American

Mar 24, 1884

Biography

Personal Details

Maastricht