Nernst, Walther Hermann

Lead Author: Cutler J. Cleveland (other articles)

Article Topic: Environmental chemistry

This article has been reviewed and approved by the following Topic Editor: Peter Saundry (other articles)

Last Updated: August 22, 2008

Walther Hermann Nernst.

Walther Hermann Nernst (1864-1941), a German chemist who applied the principles of thermodynamics to the electric cell. He constructed the Nernst Equation, which related the voltage of a cell to the cell's properties. Nernst was awarded the 1920 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of the Third Law of Thermodynamics, which states that entropy approaches a minimum (which can be arbitrarily set to zero) as temperature approaches absolute zero. Nernst invented an electric metallic-filament lamp, a link between the carbon lamp and the incandescent lamp, in 1898.

Citation

Cleveland, Cutler (Lead Author); Peter Saundry (Topic Editor). 2008. "Nernst, Walther Hermann." In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth March 19, 2007; Last revised August 22, 2008; Retrieved February 9, 2010]. <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Nernst,_Walther_Hermann>

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Nernst, Walther Hermann