Abstract
ON February 11 the centenary occurs of the birth of the distinguished American physicist, Josiah Willard Gibbs. Born at New Haven, he was the son of Josiah Gibbs (1790–1861), professor of sacred literature in Yale Divinity School. He entered Yale College in 1854 and graduated four years later; he continued his studies there until appointed a tutor in 1863. The years 1866–68 he spent in Paris, Berlin and Heidelberg. In 1871, he was appointed to the chair of mathematical physics in Yale College, and this appointment he held until his death, which occurred at New Haven on April 28, 1903. Gibbs' first contributions to mathematical physics were two papers on thermodynamical problems published in 1873. These papers were followed by his memoirs.“On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances” published in two parts in 1876 and 1878. This was translated into German by Ostwald and into French by H. le Chatelier. He also investigated certain problems in connexion with the electromagnetic theory of light and other subjects. He was a foreign member of the Royal Society, and in 1901 received the Copley Medal. He was also a corresponding member of the Paris Academy of Sciences. At the anniversary meeting of the Royal Society when the award was announced, Sir William Huggins, the president, said that Gibbs “was the first to apply the sacred law of thermodynamics to the discussion of the relation between chemical, electrical and thermal energy and the capacity for external work. To chemistry his most important result is the so-called phase rule, the law which governs the general case of complete heterogeneous equilibrium and which is applicable to chemical change generally”.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839–1903). Nature 143, 233 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/143233c0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/143233c0