Few historians of chemistry will be familiar with the name Emil Baur (1873-1944), except perhaps if they specialize in the history of fuel cells. Although he has an entry in Poggendorff’s Handwörterbuch, he is not described in either Lexikon bedeutender Chemiker or Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1). Yet Baur, a second-generation physical chemist, was far from an obscure scientist in his own time, and during his long and distinguished career in Zurich he contributed interesting work covering a wide range of the chemical landscape. From 1911 to 1942 he was professor at the Polytechnic University better known as the ETH (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule). The only biographical accounts of Baur are two obituaries written by William Dupré Treadwell, who from 1916 to 1918 worked under Baur at the ETH Institute of Physical Chemistry and subsequently served as professor of analytical chemistry at the ETH (2). Apart from providing some biographical information concerning Baur, this paper discusses select cases of his scientific work, including rare earth research, mineralogy, chemical kinetics, and his extensive electrochemical research on fuel cells. In addition, it describes his brief connection to Einstein and also Baur’s views on the more general aspects of physical chemistry, including his possible anti-atomism (3).
...More
Book
Eisler, Matthew N;
(2012)
Overpotential: Fuel Cells, Futurism, and the Making of a Power Panacea
(/isis/citation/CBB001421347/)
Article
Wisniak, Jaime;
(2002)
Fritz Haber---A Conflicting Chemist
(/isis/citation/CBB000200440/)
Article
Johannes Lyklema;
(2017)
Interfacial Potentials: Measuring the Immeasurable?
(/isis/citation/CBB380188913/)
Article
Christian Bracco;
(2015)
L’environnement scientifique du jeune Albert Einstein: La période milanaise (1899-1901)
(/isis/citation/CBB960464087/)
Book
Onoprienko, Valentin I.;
Onoprienko, Mikhail V.;
(2004)
Aleksandr Sergeevich Povarennykh (1915-1986)
(/isis/citation/CBB000750371/)
Book
Kovács, László;
Kovács, László, Jr.;
(2000)
George de Hevesy
(/isis/citation/CBB000641846/)
Chapter
Shintaro Furuya;
(2016)
Polanyi’s Physical Adsorption: One of the Early Theories of Quantum Chemistry
(/isis/citation/CBB721988181/)
Article
Bhattacharyya, Kankan;
(2014)
Early Research in Physical Chemistry in India
(/isis/citation/CBB001551715/)
Article
Brock, William H.;
(2009)
J. R. Partington (1886--1965): Physical Chemistry in Deed and Word
(/isis/citation/CBB000954653/)
Article
(2002)
Zum 100. Geburtstag von Fritz Strassmann
(/isis/citation/CBB000203093/)
Book
Scott, William T.;
Moleski, Martin X.;
(2005)
Michael Polanyi: Scientist and Philosopher
(/isis/citation/CBB000610229/)
Article
Leonova, L. S.;
(2002)
Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadskii
(/isis/citation/CBB000203020/)
Book
Andrew Robinson;
(2015)
Einstein: A Hundred Years of Relativity
(/isis/citation/CBB667142996/)
Book
Jeffrey Orens;
(2021)
The Soul of Genius: Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, and the Meeting that Changed the Course of Science
(/isis/citation/CBB387953376/)
Book
Christian Bracco;
(2017)
Quand Albert devient Einstein
(/isis/citation/CBB122206747/)
Article
Jeroen van Dongen;
(2021)
String theory, Einstein, and the identity of physics: Theory assessment in absence of the empirical
(/isis/citation/CBB982280233/)
Book
Calaprice, Alice;
(2005)
Albert Einstein: A Biography
(/isis/citation/CBB000650350/)
Book
Zackheim, Michele;
(1999)
Einstein's Daughter: The Search for Lieserl
(/isis/citation/CBB000111876/)
Book
Livio, Mario;
(2013)
Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein---Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe
(/isis/citation/CBB001213135/)
Book
Dirks, Christian;
Simon, Hermann;
(2005)
Relativ jüdisch: Albert Einstein: Jude, Zionist, Nonkonformist
(/isis/citation/CBB001024556/)
Be the first to comment!