Peter Joseph William Debye FRS (March 24, 1884 – November 2, 1966) was a Dutch physicist and physical chemist, and Nobel laureate in Chemistry. Born Petrus Josephus Wilhelmus Debije in Maastricht, Netherlands, Debye attended the Aachen University of Technology, Rhenish Prussia just 30 km away in 1901. He studied mathematics and classical physics, and, in 1905, received a degree in electrical engineering. In 1907, he published his first paper, a mathematically elegant solution of a problem involving eddy currents. At Aachen, he studied under the theoretical physicist Arnold Sommerfeld, who later claimed that his most important discovery was Peter Debye.
In 1906, Sommerfeld received an appointment at Munich, Bavaria, and took Debye with him as his assistant. Debye got his Ph.D. with a dissertation on radiation pressure in 1908. In 1910, he derived the Planck radiation formula using a method which Max Planck agreed was simpler than his own.
In 1911, when Albert Einstein took an appointment as a professor at Prague, Bohemia, Debye took his old professorship at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. This was followed by moves to Utrecht in 1912, to Göttingen in 1913, to ETH Zurich in 1920, to Leipzig in 1927, and in 1934 to Berlin, where, succeeding Einstein, he became director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics (now named the Max-Planck-Institut) whose facilities were built only during Debye's era. He was awarded the Lorentz Medal in 1935. From 1937 to 1939 he was the president of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.
In 1913, Debye married Mathilde Alberer. They had a son, Peter P. Debye (born 1916), and a daughter, Mathilde Maria (born 1921). Peter became a physicist and collaborated with Debye in some of his researches, and had a son who was also a chemist. Wikipedia, Peter Debye
See Also
3.14 - Vortex Theory of Atomic Motions
13.04 - Atomic Subdivision
Atomic
Atomic Cluster X-Ray Emission
Atomic Clusters
Atomic Force
atomic mass
atomic number
atomic theory
atomic triplet
atomic weight
Debye Continuum
Debye length
Debye length in a plasma
Debye length in an electrolyte
Debye Sphere
diatomic
Etheric Orbital Rotations
Figure 13.06 - Atomic Subdivision
Force-Atomic
Formation of Atomic Clusters
Inert Gas
Interaction of Intense Laser Pulses with Atomic Clusters - Measurements of Ion Emission Simulations and Applications TD69.pdf
InterAtomic
Laser Cluster Interactions
Law of Atomic Dissociation
Law of Atomic Pitch
Law of Oscillating Atomic Substances
Law of Pitch of Atomic Oscillation
Law of Variation of Atomic Oscillation by Electricity
Law of Variation of Atomic Oscillation by Sono-thermism
Law of Variation of Atomic Oscillation by Temperature
Law of Variation of Atomic Pitch by Electricity and Magnetism
Law of Variation of Atomic Pitch by Rad-energy
Law of Variation of Atomic Pitch by Temperature
Law of Variation of Pitch of Atomic Oscillation by Pressure
Models of Laser Cluster Interactions
monatomic
Nanoplasma
Plasma
Plasma holes
Quasi-neutrality
Quasi-neutrality and Debye length
Specific Heat
Violation of quasi-neutrality