Carl Wilhelm Wagner (25 May 1901 – 10 December 1977) was a German
physical chemist
Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical me ...
. He is best known for his pioneering work on
solid-state chemistry Solid-state chemistry, also sometimes referred as materials chemistry, is the study of the synthesis, structure, and properties of solid phase materials, particularly, but not necessarily exclusively of, non-molecular solids. It therefore has a str ...
, where his work on oxidation rate theory, counter diffusion of ions and defect chemistry led to a better understanding of how reactions take place at the atomic level. His life and achievements were honoured in a Solid State Ionics symposium commemorating his 100th birthday in 2001, where he was described as the father of solid-state chemistry.
Early life
Wagner was born in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
, Germany; the son of Dr Julius Wagner who was the Head of Chemistry at the local institute and secretary of the German Bunsen Society of Physical Chemistry. Wagner graduated from the
University of Munich
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's List of universities in Germany, sixth-oldest u ...
and gained his PhD at the
University of Leipzig
Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...
in 1924 supervised by
Max Le Blanc
Max Julius Louis Le Blanc (1865 – 1943) was a German physical chemist who worked in the field of electrochemistry, writing an influential textbook in 1895 on the subject which went through several editions. He was a professor at the Technical Un ...
with a dissertation on the reaction rate in solutions, "Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Reaktionsgeschwindigkeit in Lösungen".
Career
Wagner was interested in the measurement of thermodynamic activities of the components in solid and liquid alloys. He also researched problems of solid-state chemistry, especially the role of defects of ionic crystals on thermodynamic properties, electrical conductivity and
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 ...
.
He became a research fellow at the Bodernstein Institute at the
University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
.
[ It was in Berlin that he first became acquainted with ]Walter H. Schottky
Walter Hans Schottky (23 July 1886 – 4 March 1976) was a German physicist who played a major early role in developing the theory of electron and ion emission phenomena, invented the screen-grid vacuum tube in 1915 while working at Siemens ...
who asked him to co-author a book on thermodynamic problems. Together with Hermann Ulich they published ''Thermodynamik'' in 1929, which is still considered a standard reference in the field.
In 1930 he was Privatdozent
''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...
at the University of Jena
The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany.
The un ...
and published a notable paper with Schottky, "Theorie der geordneten Mischphasen" (Theory of arranged mixed phases). His subsequent published papers led to the new concept of chemical disorder now known as defect chemistry.[ Wagner spent one year as Visiting Professor of Physical Chemistry, at the ]University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...
in 1933, before moving to the Technische Universität Darmstadt
The Technische Universität Darmstadt (official English name Technical University of Darmstadt, sometimes also referred to as Darmstadt University of Technology), commonly known as TU Darmstadt, is a research university in the city of Darmstadt ...
where he was Professor of Physical Chemistry until 1945.[ He proposed an important law of oxidation kinetics in 1933.]
In 1936 he published a crucial paper "On the mechanism of the formation of ionic crystals of higher order (double salts, spinels, silicates)", a concept of counter-diffusion of cations, which contributed to the understanding of all diffusion controlled, solid-state reactions.[ Over a twenty-year period he produced an important body of work relating to the bulk transport processes in oxides.]
Wagner and Schottky proposed the point defect
A crystallographic defect is an interruption of the regular patterns of arrangement of atoms or molecules in crystalline solids. The positions and orientations of particles, which are repeating at fixed distances determined by the unit cell param ...
-mediated mechanism of mass transport in solids, Wagner then extended the analysis to electronic defects.
For these works and his subsequent research on local equilibrium, his oxidation rate theory, and the concept of counter diffusion of cations, Wagner is considered by some as the "father of solid state chemistry."
At the end of the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, it was anticipated that German universities and research establishments would undergo a long period of rebuilding. Wagner was invited to the United States to become a scientific advisor at Fort Bliss
Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Named in honor of William Wallace Smith Bliss, LTC William Bliss (1815–1853), a mathematics professor who was the son-in-law of President ...
, Texas, with other German scientists as part of Operation Paperclip
Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from the former Nazi Germany to the U.S. for government employment after the end of World Wa ...
. He acquired US citizenship at this time.[
] His work on the thermodynamics of fuels used in V2-rockets was continued by Malcolm Hebb and their techniques are now known as the Hebb-Wagner polarisation method. Wagner was a professor of metallurgy at MIT from 1949 until 1958. He then returned to Germany to take up the position of Director of the Max Planck Institute of Physical Chemistry at Göttingen, which was vacant due to the untimely death of Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer
Karl-Friedrich Bonhoeffer (13 January 1899 – 15 May 1957) was a German chemist.
Education and career
Born in Breslau, he was an older brother of martyred theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. His father was neurologist Karl Bonhoeffer and his moth ...
. In 1961 he produced a paper on the theory of the ageing of precipitates by dissolution-reprecipitation Ostwald ripening
Ostwald ripening is a phenomenon observed in solid solutions or liquid sols that describes the change of an inhomogeneous structure over time, i.e., small crystals or sol particles dissolve, and redeposit onto larger crystals or sol particles ...
, now known as the Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner theory, which helps predict the rate of coarsening in alloys. When NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
tested the theory in space shuttle experiments they discovered the theory did not work as they initially expected and realised the way engineers had been using it needed to be reconsidered.NASA
/ref>
Legacy
Wagner officially retired in 1966 but from 1967 to 1977 was a Scientific Member of the Max Planck Institute
Max or MAX may refer to:
Animals
* Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog
* Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE)
* Max (gorilla) (1 ...
in Göttingen, continuing to contribute to publications. Many modern inventions based on solid-state technology and semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical resistivity and conductivity, electrical conductivity value falling between that of a electrical conductor, conductor, such as copper, and an insulator (electricity), insulator, such as glas ...
fabrication, used in devices such as solar energy conversion have been developed with the aid of Wagner's theories. Some examples of solid state electrochemical devices are typically, fuel cells, batteries, sensors and membranes.
Wagner died on 10 December 1977 in Göttingen.
Honours
* 1951 - Palladium Medal of the Electrochemical Society
The Electrochemical Society is a learned society (professional association) based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of electrochemistry and solid-state science and related technology. The Society membership compris ...
* 1957 - Willis R. 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 ...
Award, NACE
* 1959 - Wilhelm Exner Medal The Wilhelm Exner Medal has been awarded by the Austrian Industry Association, (ÖGV), for excellence in research and science since 1921.
The medal is dedicated to Wilhelm Exner (1840–1931), former president of the Association, who initialized ...
of the
* 1961 - Bunsen Medal of the German Bunsen Society
* 1964 - of the
* 1972 - Honorary member of the German Bunsen Society
* 1972 - Heyn Medal of the German Society of Metallurgy
* 1973 - Cavallaro Medal, European Federation of Corrosion
* Honorary member of American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers
* 1973 - Honorary member of the Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna
* 1973 - Gold Medal of the American Society for Metals
ASM International, formerly known as the American Society for Metals, is an association of materials-centric engineers and scientists.
ASM provides several information resources, including technical books, various digital databases, and ASM Han ...
* 1975 - Honorary Membership of the Japan Institute of Metals
* 1975 - Corresponding member of the
See also
*Electrochemical engineering Electrochemical engineering is the branch of chemical engineering dealing with the technological applications of electrochemical phenomena, such as electrosynthesis of chemicals, electrowinning and refining of metals, flow batteries and fuel cell ...
*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 ...
*Solid-state ionics
Solid-state ionics is the study of ionic-electronic mixed conductor and fully ionic conductors (solid electrolytes) and their uses. Some materials that fall into this category include inorganic crystalline and polycrystalline solids, ceramics, gla ...
* Lifshitz–Slyozov–Wagner theory
References
External links
* Chemistry Tree
Carl W. Wagner Details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Carl
1901 births
1977 deaths
Scientists from Leipzig
German physical chemists
MIT School of Engineering faculty
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
Academic staff of Technische Universität Darmstadt
Fellows of the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society
Solid state chemists
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni
Academic staff of the University of Jena
20th-century German chemists
Academic staff of Max Planck Society
Leipzig University alumni
Max Planck Institute directors