Arthur Amos Noyes (September 13, 1866 – June 3, 1936) was an American
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...
, inventor and educator. He received a PhD in 1890 from
Leipzig University under the guidance of
Wilhelm Ostwald.
He served as the acting president of
MIT between 1907 and 1909 and as Professor of Chemistry at the
California Institute of Technology from 1919 to 1936. "Although
he Noyeslaboratory at MIT was like an institute in its intramural funding (from Carnegie Institute of Washington and Noyes's patent royalties), Noyes recruited many of his disciples as undergraduates and took a deep interest in undergraduate engineering education, both at MIT and later at Caltech.
[ John Servos, "The industrial relations of science: Chemical Engineering at MIT, 1900-1939", Isis, 71 (1980) 531-549.] Roscoe Gilkey Dickinson was one of his famous students.
Noyes was a major influence both on the educational philosophy of the core curriculum of Caltech as well as in the negotiations leading to the creation of the
National Research Council National Research Council may refer to:
* National Research Council (Canada), sponsoring research and development
* National Research Council (Italy), scientific and technological research, Rome
* National Research Council (United States), part of ...
along with
George Ellery Hale
George Ellery Hale (June 29, 1868 – February 21, 1938) was an American solar astronomer, best known for his discovery of magnetic fields in sunspots, and as the leader or key figure in the planning or construction of several world-lea ...
and
Robert Millikan
Robert Andrews Millikan (March 22, 1868 – December 19, 1953) was an American experimental physicist honored with the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1923 for the measurement of the elementary electric charge and for his work on the photoelectric e ...
. He also served on the board of trustees for Science Service, now known as
Society for Science & the Public, between 1921 and 1927.
Noyes–Whitney equation
Along with
Willis Rodney Whitney
Willis Rodney Whitney (August 22, 1868 – January 9, 1958) was an American chemist and founder of the research laboratory of the General Electric Company. He is known as the "father of industrial research" in the United States for blending the w ...
, he formulated the Noyes–Whitney
equation
In mathematics, an equation is a formula that expresses the equality of two expressions, by connecting them with the equals sign . The word ''equation'' and its cognates in other languages may have subtly different meanings; for example, in ...
in 1897, which relates the
rate
Rate or rates may refer to:
Finance
* Rates (tax), a type of taxation system in the United Kingdom used to fund local government
* Exchange rate, rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another
Mathematics and science
* Rate (mathema ...
of
dissolution
Dissolution may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Books
* ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers
* ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music
* Dissolution, in mu ...
of solids to the properties of the solid and the dissolution
medium
Medium may refer to:
Science and technology
Aviation
*Medium bomber, a class of war plane
* Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data
* Medium of ...
. It is an important equation in
pharmaceutical science. The relation is given by:
:
Where:
*
is the rate of dissolution.
*A is the
surface area
The surface area of a solid object is a measure of the total area that the surface of the object occupies. The mathematical definition of surface area in the presence of curved surfaces is considerably more involved than the definition of arc ...
of the solid.
*C is the concentration of the solid in the bulk dissolution medium.
*
is the concentration of the solid in the
diffusion
Diffusion is the net movement of anything (for example, atoms, ions, molecules, energy) generally from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Diffusion is driven by a gradient in Gibbs free energy or chemical p ...
layer surrounding the solid.
*D is the
diffusion coefficient
Diffusivity, mass diffusivity or diffusion coefficient is a proportionality constant between the molar flux due to molecular diffusion and the gradient in the concentration of the species (or the driving force for diffusion). Diffusivity is enco ...
.
*L is the
diffusion layer In electrochemistry, the diffusion layer, according to IUPAC, is defined as the "region in the vicinity of an electrode where the concentrations are different from their value in the bulk solution. The definition of the thickness of the diffusion la ...
thickness.
References
* "Arthur Amos Noyes: Sept. 69, 1866 – June 3, 1936 (A biographical memoir)," in ''Biographical Memoirs,'' Vol. 31, Columbia University Press (For the National Academy of Sciences of the United States), New York, 1958, pp. 322–346.
* ''Dictionary of Scientific Biography,'' Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970–1990, vol. 10, pp. 156–157.
* ''Biog. Mem. Nat. Acad. Sci.,'' 1958, 31, pp. 322–346.
* ''Proc. Welch Fdn. Conf.'' 1977, 20, pp. 88–105.
* ''Science'' 1936, 83, pp. 613–614.
* ''Science'' 1936, 84, pp. 217–220.
* ''Sci. Monthly'' 1936, 43, pp. 179–181.
* ''Ind. Eng. Chem.'' 1931, 23, pp. 443–445.
* ''American Chemists and Chemical Engineers,'' Ed. W.D. Miles, American Chemical Society, 1976, pp. 371–372.
* ''Proc. Am. Acad. Arts Sci.'' 1940, 74, pp. 150–155.
External links
Noyes' Gibbs medal* Arthur Amos Noyes – Key Participan
and
ttp://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/coll/pauling/blood/people/noyes.html ''It's in the Blood! A Documentary History of Linus Pauling, Hemoglobin, and Sickle Cell Anemia''*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noyes, Arthur Amos
1866 births
1936 deaths
American chemists
Presidents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology faculty
People from Newburyport, Massachusetts
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America editors