Nernst was born in Briesen, Germany (nowWąbrzeźno, Poland) to Gustav Nernst (1827–1888) and Ottilie Nerger (1833–1876).[4][5] His father was a country judge. Nernst had three older sisters and one younger brother. His third sister died ofcholera. Nernst went to elementary school atGraudenz, Germany (nowGrudziądz, Poland).
Nernst started undergraduate studies at theUniversity of Zürich in 1883, then after an interlude inBerlin, he returned to Zürich.[6] He wrote his thesis atUniversity of Graz, whereLudwig Boltzmann was professor, though he worked under the direction ofAlbert von Ettinghausen. They discovered theEttingshausen andNernst effects: that a magnetic field applied perpendicular to a metallic conductor in a temperature gradient gives rise to an electrical potential difference, reciprocally, an electric potential difference produces a thermal gradient. Next, he moved to theUniversity of Würzburg underFriedrich Kohlrausch where he submitted and defended his thesis.
Wilhelm Ostwald recruited him to the first department of physical chemistry atLeipzig University. Nernst moved there as an assistant, working on the thermodynamics of electrical currents in solutions. Promoted to lecturer, he taught briefly at theHeidelberg University and then moved to theUniversity of Göttingen. Three years later, he was offered a professorship inMunich. To keep him in Prussia the government created a chair for him at Göttingen. There, he wrote a celebrated textbookTheoretical Chemistry, which was translated into English, French, and Russian. He also derived theNernst equation for the electrical potential generated by unequal concentrations of an ion separated by a membrane that is permeable to the ion. His equation is widely used in cell physiology and neurobiology.
Thecarbon electric filament lamp then in use was dim and expensive because it required a vacuum in its bulb. Nernst invented a solid-body radiator with a filament of rare-earth oxides, known as theNernst glower, it is still important in the field ofinfrared spectroscopy. Continuousohmic heating of the filament results in conduction. The glower operates best in wavelengths from 2 to 14 micrometers. It gives a bright light but only after a warm-up period. Nernst sold the patent for one million marks, wisely not opting for royalties because soon the tungsten filament lamp filled with inert gas was introduced. With his riches, Nernst in 1898 bought the first of the eighteen automobiles he owned during his lifetime and a country estate of more than five hundred hectares for hunting. He increased the power of his early automobiles by carrying a cylinder ofnitrous oxide that he could inject into the carburetor.[7] After eighteen productive years at Göttingen, investigatingosmotic pressure andelectrochemistry and presenting a theory of how nerves conduct, he moved to Berlin, and was awarded the title ofGeheimrat.
In 1905, he proposed his "New Heat Theorem", later known as theThird law of thermodynamics. He showed that as the temperature approached absolute zero, theentropy approaches zero — while thefree energy remains above zero. This is the work for which he is best remembered, as it enabled chemists to determine free energies (and therefore equilibrium points) ofchemical reactions from heat measurements.Theodore Richards claimed that Nernst had stolen his idea, but Nernst is almost universally credited with the discovery.[8] Nernst became friendly withKaiser Wilhelm, whom he persuaded to found theKaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft for the Advancement of the Sciences with an initial capital of eleven million marks. Nernst's laboratory discovered that at low temperaturesspecific heats fell markedly and would probably disappear at absolute zero. This fall was predicted for liquids and solids in a 1909 paper ofAlbert Einstein's on thequantum mechanics of specific heats at cryogenic temperatures. Nernst was so impressed that he traveled all the way toZürich to visit Einstein, who was relatively unknown in Zürich in 1909, so people said: "Einstein must be a clever fellow if the great Nernst comes all the way from Berlin to Zürich to talk to him."[9] Nernst and Planck lobbied to establish a special professorship in Berlin and Nernst donated to its endowment. In 1913 they traveled to Switzerland to persuade Einstein to accept it; a dream job: a named professorship at the top university in Germany, without teaching duties, leaving him free for research.[10]
In 1914, the Nernsts were entertaining co-workers and students they had brought to their country estate in a private railway car when they learned that war had been declared. Their two older sons entered the army, while thé father enlisted in the voluntary driver's corps. He supported the German army against their opponent's charges of barbarism by signing theManifesto of the Ninety-Three, On 21 August 1914, he drove documents from Berlin to the commander of the German right wing in France, advancing with them for two weeks until he could see the glow of the Paris lights at night. The tide turned at thebattle of the Marne. When the stalemate in the trenches began, he returned home. He contacted ColonelMax Bauer, the staff officer responsible for munitions, with the idea of driving the defenders out of their trenches with shells releasing tear gas.[11] When his idea was tried one of the observers wasFritz Haber, who argued that too many shells would be needed, it would be better to release a cloud of heavier-than-air poisonous gas; the firstchlorine cloud attack on 22 April 1915 was not supported by a strong infantry thrust, so the chance that gas would break the stalemate was irrevocably gone. Nernst was awarded theIron Cross second class. As a Staff Scientific Advisor in theImperial German Army, he directed research on explosives, much of which was done in his laboratory where they developedguanidine perchlorate. Then he worked on the development of trench mortars. He was awarded the Iron Cross first class and later thePour le Mérite. When the high command was considering unleashing unrestricted submarine warfare, he asked the Kaiser for an opportunity to warn about the enormous potential of the United States as an adversary. They would not listen, GeneralErich Ludendorff shouted him down for "incompetent nonsense."[12]
Nernst published his bookThe Foundations of the New Heat Theorem. In 1918, after studyingphotochemistry, he proposed the atomic chain reaction theory. It stated that when a reaction in which free atoms are formed that can decompose target molecules into more free atoms would result in a chain reaction. His theory is closely related to the natural process ofnuclear fission.
In 1920, he and his family briefly fled abroad because he was one of the scientists on theAllied list of war criminals. Later that year he received theNobel Prize in Chemistry in recognition of his work onthermochemistry. He was elected Rector ofBerlin University for 1921–1922. He set up an agency to channel government and private funds to young scientists and declined becoming Ambassador to the United States. For two unhappy years, he was the president of thePhysikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (National Physical Laboratory), where he could not cope with the "mixture of mediocrity and red tape".[13] In 1924, he became director of theInstitute of Physical Chemistry at Berlin.
In 1927, the decrease in specific heat at low temperatures was extended to gases. He studied the theories of cosmic rays and cosmology.
In 1933, Nernst learned that a colleague, with whom he had hoped to collaborate, had been dismissed from the department because he was a Jew. Nernst immediately taxied to see Haber to request a position in his Institute, which was not controlled by the government, only to learn that Haber was moving to England. Soon, Nernst was in trouble for declining to fill out a government form on his racial origins. He retired from his professorship but was sacked from the board of theKaiser Wilhelm Institute. He lived quietly in the country; in 1937 he traveled to theUniversity of Oxford to receive an honorary degree, also visiting his eldest daughter, her husband, and his three grandchildren.
Nernst had a severe heart attack in 1939. He died in 1941 at Zibelle, Germany (nowNiwica, Poland). He was buried three times.[15] He was buried the first time near the place of his death. However, his remains were moved to Berlin, where he was buried a second time. Finally they were moved again and buried near the graves ofMax Planck,Otto Hahn andMax von Laue inGöttingen, Germany.[16]
Nernst married Emma Lohmeyer in 1892 with whom he had two sons and three daughters. Both of Nernst's sons died fighting in World War I.
With his colleagues at the University of Leipzig,Jacobus Henricus van’t Hoff andSvante Arrhenius, he was establishing the foundations of a new theoretical and experimental field of inquiry within chemistry and suggested setting fire to unused coal seams to increase the global temperature.[17] He was a vocal critic ofAdolf Hitler and ofNazism, and two of his three daughters marriedJewish men. After Hitler came to power they emigrated, one to England and the other to Brazil.
Nernst was mechanically minded in that he was always thinking of ways to apply new discoveries to industry. His hobbies included hunting and fishing.[16] His friend Albert Einstein was amused by "his childlike vanity and self-complacency"[18] "His own study and laboratory always presented aspects of extreme chaos which his coworkers termed appropriately 'the state of maximum entropy'".[19]
Walther Nernst, "Reasoning of theoretical chemistry: Nine papers (1889–1921)" (Ger., Begründung der Theoretischen Chemie : Neun Abhandlungen, 1889–1921). Frankfurt am Main :Verlag Harri Deutsch, c. 2003.ISBN3-8171-3290-5
Walther Nernst, "The theoretical and experimental bases of the New Heat Theorem" (Ger., Die theoretischen und experimentellen Grundlagen des neuen Wärmesatzes). Halle [Ger.] W. Knapp, 1918 [tr. 1926]. [ed., this is a list of thermodynamical papers from the physico-chemical institute of the University of Berlin (1906–1916); Translation available by Guy BarrLCCN27-2575
Walther Nernst, "Theoretical chemistry from the standpoint ofAvogadro's law and thermodynamics" (Ger., Theoretische Chemie vom Standpunkte der Avogadroschen Regel und der Thermodynamik). Stuttgart, F. Enke, 1893 [5th edition, 1923].LCCNpo28-417
^Van der Kloot, W. (2004). "April 1918: Five Future Nobel prize-winners inaugurate weapons of mass destruction and the academic-industrial-military complex".Notes Rec. R. Soc. Lond.58 (2):149–160.doi:10.1098/rsnr.2004.0053.S2CID145243958.
"Nernst: architect of physical revolution".Physics World. September 1999. Archived fromthe original on 8 August 2004. Retrieved17 March 2004. – Review of Diana Barkan'sWalther Nernst and the Transition to Modern Physical Science
