August Friedrich Horstmann (20 November 1842 – 8 October 1929) was a German physical chemist who contributed to a thermodynamic understanding of chemical reactions and equilibria. His mathematical approach published in 1873 was largely overshadowed by the independent and identical findings of

Josiah Willard Gibbs Josiah Willard Gibbs (; February 11, 1839 – April 28, 1903) was an American scientist who made significant theoretical contributions to physics, chemistry, and mathematics. His work on the applications of thermodynamics was instrumental in t ...

made about three years later. Horstmann was born in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

where his parents Georg Friedrich and Charlotte Friederike née Köhler ran a grocery business. He went to the Lycaeum and dropped out of high school due to short-sight and worked with his father. After three years he decided to study again and went to

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

in 1862 where he attended chemistry classes under

Emil Erlenmeyer Richard August Carl Emil Erlenmeyer (28 June 182522 January 1909), known simply as Emil Erlenmeyer, was a German chemist known for contributing to the early development of the theory of structure, formulating the Erlenmeyer rule, and designing ...

. In 1865 he received a doctorate and went to study in Zurich under

Johannes Wislicenus Johannes Wislicenus (24 June 1835 – 5 December 1902) was a German chemist, most famous for his work in early stereochemistry. Biography The son of the radical Protestant theologian Gustav Wislicenus, Johannes was born on 24 June 1835 in Kle ...

and

Rudolf Clausius Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius (; 2 January 1822 – 24 August 1888) was a German physicist and mathematician and is considered one of the central founding fathers of the science of thermodynamics. By his restatement of Sadi Carnot's principle ...

followed in 1866 with studies at Bonn with

Hans Heinrich Landolt Hans Heinrich Landolt (5 December 1831 – 15 March 1910) was a Swiss chemist who discovered iodine clock reaction. He is also one of the founders of Landolt–Börnstein database. He tested law of mass conservation which was given by Lavoisier. B ...

. He examined molecular weight and specific gravity of liquids. He became an associate professor in 1870 but short sight was still a problem and few students joined him. His major work was on the application of the laws of thermodynamics to chemical equilibria. Horstmann married Clothilde Henriette Gernandt (1844–1921) in 1873 and they had five children. He went blind in 1902.

References

External links

Abhandlungen zur Thermodynamik chemischer Vorgänge
(1903) {{DEFAULTSORT:Horstmann, August Friedrich 1842 births 1929 deaths Physical chemists People from Mannheim