| During 1886, the Latvian chemist Wilhelm Ostwald and the Dutch chemist J. H. van't Hoff organized the first journal of the "new science" of physical chemistry. The first volume of their Zeitschrift fur physikalische Chemie appeared in 1887 carrying seminal articles by van't Hoff, Ostwald, and their Swedish collaborator Svante Arrhenius. Their papers provided the "new science" with a comprehensive thermodynamic theory of solutions based upon ionic dissociation in electrolytes. Hence their sobriquet "The Ionists." The Ionists' theories became the basis of many subsequent developments in physical chemistry and each man was awarded a Nobel Prize for his research. Meanwhile, the German physicist Max Plank "simultaneously" published his own thermodynamic-dissociation theory in the premier volume of the Zeitschrift. His results were subsequently ignored. It is the purpose of this dissertation to recount the confluence of events from the outset of the Ionists' research in 1872 to their success in 1887 in founding physico-chemical theory and to investigate Planck's role in this "great work" to 1890.;This study is needed for several reasons. The development of van't Hoff's research program has never been explained; the logic and chronology of Arrhenius' postulation of ionic dissociation is subject to controversy; the founding of the Zeitschrift has not been analyzed; Planck's "simultaneous" discovery of solution theory has not been studied nor has his impact on the Ionists; and the collaborations and disagreements that led to the founding of the "new science" have not been critically examined. Previous accounts of the history of physical chemistry have been too brief and general to examine these questions or have begun only after the key events of 1887-1890. Assiduous attention has therefore been paid here to the careers of the Ionists and Planck prior to 1890. Much previously unutilized primary source material has been introduced into the present account and the standard biographical works critically reconsidered.;The dissertation is built around four theses. First, it is argued that the Ionists and Planck participated in very different research traditions which were largely determined by nationality and the particular scientists with whom each man studied. These traditions affected the course of research undertaken by each man by limiting his horizons in some directions while broadening them in others.;Secondly, each man had a unique style of scientific investigation that determined the particular sort of problems he defined for himself within or across traditions; how he defined them; what kinds of analytical or experimental tools he brought to bear on them; and what he considered to be acceptable solutions to them.;Thirdly, the reception of the innovations introduced by the Ionists and Planck into the physical sciences can largely be explained in terms of the compatibility or incompatibility of their styles with the styles of other scientists. The Ionists developed compatible styles of research while Planck did not; thus, the Ionists collaborated and their work was mutually reinforcing while Planck remained an "outsider.".;Finally, the fecundity of the Ionists research resulted not, as Planck's did, from work at the forefront of a specialized field, but rather from the mixing of diverse old traditions and problems with new styles and techniques of research. The Ionists were, after all, educated in scientific backwaters and were largely autodidacts and eclectics. Their theories reflect these characteristics just as Planck's reflect the lack of them. The Ionists eclecticism, in particular, helps to explain the multi-disciplinary application of their ideas after 1890 as well as the many inter- and intra- disciplinary tensions they raised concerning the scope and style of physico-chemical research. |
