Gustav Ferdinand Albert Kortüm (14 June 1904 to 1 December 1990) 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 mecha ...

and electrochemist. Kortüm was the son of a pastor and studied chemistry at

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; ) is both a German public research university in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, and a research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 when the University of Karlsruhe (), founde ...

from 1922. In 1928 he received his doctorate under Georg Bredig with a thesis on the synthesis of

hydrocyanic acid Hydrogen cyanide (formerly known as prussic acid) is a chemical compound with the formula HCN and structural formula . It is a highly toxic and flammable liquid that boils slightly above room temperature, at . HCN is produced on an industrial s ...

from

carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a poisonous, flammable gas that is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the si ...

and

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...

. He then worked as a

postdoctoral researcher A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Berlin and from 1929 was assistant to Johannes Ludwig Ebert in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

. From 1931 he was an assistant to Hans von Halban at the

University of Zürich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

. From 1937 he taught at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

, where he became full professor in 1942 and director of the newly created institute for physical chemistry. He became an emeritus professor in 1971. He focused on

spectrophotometry Spectrophotometry is a branch of electromagnetic spectroscopy concerned with the quantitative measurement of the reflection or transmission properties of a material as a function of wavelength. Spectrophotometry uses photometers, known as spe ...

electrochemistry Electrochemistry is the branch of physical chemistry concerned with the relationship between Electric potential, electrical potential difference and identifiable chemical change. These reactions involve Electron, electrons moving via an electronic ...

, and

electrolyte An electrolyte is a substance that conducts electricity through the movement of ions, but not through the movement of electrons. This includes most soluble Salt (chemistry), salts, acids, and Base (chemistry), bases, dissolved in a polar solven ...

solutions (reviewing the Debye-Hückel theory and Onsager's theory of solvent mixtures),

vapor pressure Vapor pressure or equilibrium vapor pressure is the pressure exerted by a vapor in thermodynamic equilibrium with its condensed phases (solid or liquid) at a given temperature in a closed system. The equilibrium vapor pressure is an indicat ...

measurements on binary systems, and reflection spectroscopy. In 1959 he was elected as a member of the Leopoldina.

Books

* * * ''Kolorimetrie - Photometrie und Spektrometrie. Eine Anleitung zur Ausführung von Absorptions-, Emissions-, Fluoreszenz-, Streuungs-, Trübungs- und Reflexionsmessungen,'' Springer, 1955. * Elektrolytlösungen, Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft m. b. H., Leipzig 1941 * with Heinrich Lachmann: ''Einführung in die chemische Thermodynamik. ''Wiley-VCH, 1981.

References

* ''Gustav Kortüm.'' In: Winfried Pötsch, Annelore Fischer, Wolfgang Müller: ''Lexikon bedeutender Chemiker.'' Harri Deutsch, 1989. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kortum, Gustav 1990 deaths 1904 births Academic staff of the University of Tübingen 20th-century German chemists