Édouard Herzen (

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, 1877–1936) was a Belgian

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

of Russian descent who played a leading role in the development of

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

and chemistry during the twentieth century. He collaborated with industrialist

Ernest Solvay Ernest Gaston Joseph Solvay (; 16 April 1838 – 26 May 1922) was a Belgian chemist, industrialist and philanthropist. Biography Born in Rebecq, he was prevented by his acute pleurisy from going to university. He worked in his uncle's c ...

, and participated in the first, second, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh

Solvay Conference The Solvay Conferences () have been devoted to preeminent unsolved problems in both physics and chemistry. They began with the historic invitation-only 1911 Solvay Conference on Physics, considered a turning point in the world of physics, and ar ...

s (1911, 1913, 1924, 1927, 1930, and 1933).

Biography

Herzen was a grandson of

Alexander Herzen Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (; ) was a Russian writer and thinker known as the precursor of Russian socialism and one of the main precursors of agrarian populism (being an ideological ancestor of the Narodniki, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Trudo ...

, a prominent Russian public figure. In 1902 he published a thesis on

Surface Tension Surface tension is the tendency of liquid surfaces at rest to shrink into the minimum surface area possible. Surface tension (physics), tension is what allows objects with a higher density than water such as razor blades and insects (e.g. Ge ...

. In 1921 he became director of the Division of Physical and Chemical Sciences at the l'Institut des Hautes-Études. In 1924 he published, in collaboration with the physicist

Hendrik Lorentz Hendrik Antoon Lorentz ( ; ; 18 July 1853 – 4 February 1928) was a Dutch theoretical physicist who shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pieter Zeeman for their discovery and theoretical explanation of the Zeeman effect. He derive ...

, a note to the

Paris Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at the forefront of scientific d ...

entitled ''The Reports of Energy and Mass After Ernest Solvay''. The same year he wrote the popular book ''La Relativité d'Einstein'', published by Editions of New Library of Lausanne.

References

External links

Bulletin des sociétés chimiques belges, vol. 45 à 46, Bruxelles, Société chimique de Belgique
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herzen, Edouard Belgian chemists Belgian people of Russian descent 1936 deaths 1877 births