Théophile de Donder

Infobox Scientist
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name = Théophile de Donder


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caption = Théophile Ernest de Donder (1872 – 1957) at the 1927 Solvay Conference. Appearing in front of de Donder is Paul Dirac.
birth_date = 19 August, 1872
birth_place = Brussels, Belgium
death_date = 11 May, 1957
death_place = Brussels, Belgium
residence = Belgium
citizenship =
nationality = Belgian
ethnicity =
fields = Physicist and mathematician
workplaces = Université Libre de Bruxelles
alma_mater = Université Libre de Bruxelles
doctoral_advisor =
academic_advisors =
doctoral_students = Ilya Prigogine
Jules Géhéniau
Léon Van Hove
Raymond Coutrez
notable_students =
known_for = Being the father of irreversible thermodynamics
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author_abbrev_zoo =
influences = Albert Einstein
influenced =
awards =
religion =


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Théophile Ernest de Donder (1872 – 1957) was a Belgian mathematician and physicist famous for his 1923 work in developing correlations between the Newtonian concept of chemical affinity and the Gibbsian concept of free energy.

Education

He received his doctorate in physics and mathematics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles in 1899, for a thesis entitled "Sur la Théorie des Invariants Intégraux" ("On the Theory of Integral Invariants"). [Acad. Roy. Belg., Bull. Cl. Sc., page 169, 1968.]

Career

He was professor between 1911 and 1942, at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Initially he continued the work of Henri Poincaré and Elie Cartan. As from 1914 he was influenced by the work of Albert Einstein and was an enthusiastic proponent of the theory of relativity. He gained significant reputation in 1923, when he developed his definition of chemical affinity. He pointed out a connection between the chemical affinity and the Gibbs free energy.

He is considered the father of thermodynamics of irreversible processes. [cite book | last = Perrot | first = Pierre | title = A to Z of Thermodynamics | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1998 | id = ISBN 0198565569] De Donder’s work was later developed further by Ilya Prigogine. De Donder was an associate and friend of Albert Einstein.

Books by De Donder

* "Thermodynamic Theory of Affinity: A Book of Principles." Oxford, England: Oxford University Press (1936)
* "The Mathematical Theory of Relativity." Cambridge, MA: MIT (1927)
* "Sur la théorie des invariants intégraux" (thesis) (1899).
* "Théorie du champ électromagnétique de Maxwell-Lorentz et du champ gravifique d'Einstein" (1917)
* "La gravifique Einsteinienne" (1921)
* "Introduction à la gravifique einsteinienne" (1925)
* "Théorie mathématique de l'électricité" (1925)
* "Théorie des champs gravifiques" (1926)
* "Application de la gravifique einsteinienne" (1930)
* "Théorie invariantive du calcul des variations" (1931)

ee also

*Chemical affinity
*Chemical thermodynamics

References

External links

* [http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/deDonder.html Theophile de Donder] - Science World at Wolfram.com
* [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1977/prigogine-autobio.html Prigogine on de Donder]
* [http://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=97838 De Donder's math genealogy]