Charles Soret (born 23 September 1854,

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

; died 4 April 1904) was a Swiss physicist and chemist. He is known for his work on

thermodiffusion Thermophoresis (also thermomigration, thermodiffusion, the Soret effect, or the Ludwig–Soret effect) is a phenomenon observed in mixtures of mobile particles where the different particle types exhibit different responses to the force of a temper ...

(the so-called ''Soret effect'').

Life

Charles Soret was the son of

Jacques-Louis Soret Jacques-Louis Soret (30 June 1827 – 13 May 1890) was a Swiss chemist and spectroscopist. He studied both spectroscopy and electrolysis. He held the chairs of chemistry (1873-1887) and medical physics (1887-1890) at the University of Genev ...

, professor of physical medicine at University of Geneva, and Clémentine Odier. In 1872, Charles graduated from an art college in Geneva and, two years later, he added a degree in mathematics. In addition, he also attended lectures in physics and other sciences. He continued studies in mathematics at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, where he received his MA in 1876. He believed that a good physicist is first of all a good mathematician; therefore, only afterwards he focused on physics in which he obtained a master's degree two years later. Soon, he was offered a place in the Department of crystallography and mineralogy at the University of Geneva. There, in 1879, he became a lecturer and a full professor in 1881. In 1879, he published his first discussion on thermodiffusion on the basis of experiments with solutions of NaCl and KNO₃ in pipes with heated or cooled ends. He noticed higher concentrations at the cooler end of the pipe. His experiments confirmed the results of C. Ludwig (published 20 years earlier) of which Soret probably did not know. In addition to thermal migration, he also conducted research on

refractometry Refractometry is the analytical method of measuring substances' refractive index (one of their fundamental physical properties) in order to, for example, assess their composition or purity. A refractometer is the instrument used to measure refracti ...

. In 1898 he became the rector of the University of Geneva. He died in April 1904 due to gastrointestinal illness, a few days after a successful operation.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soret, Charles Swiss chemists Swiss mineralogists Swiss physicists University of Paris alumni Academic staff of the University of Geneva Rectors of the University of Geneva 1854 births 1904 deaths