Source: "Science Compound" public number (ID: kexuedayuan)
Author: Wangxi
(Image source: Nobel Prize official website)
The Nobel Prize (hereinafter referred to as the "Nobel Prize") has gone through two full nails. For the past 120 years, The Nobel Laureates in Chemistry have been a star-studded choice. But there are also many chemists who have made great contributions to the cause of chemistry, and whose research results have always occupied an important place in chemistry textbooks, but have not won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
I have to say that these are the regrets of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Mendeleev: Probably the biggest black spot in the Nobel Prize
Mendeleev (Image: wiki)
All those who have received compulsory education know that the periodic table of elements taught in junior high school chemistry textbooks was compiled in 1869 by the Russian chemist Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (1834-1907), who deeply understood the periodicity between chemical elements. But it was such a person who made great contributions to chemistry that he missed the Nobel Prize in Chemistry twice in a row in 1905 and 1906. Mendeleev died in 1907.
First Edition of the English Periodic Table (translated from the Fifth Edition in Russian)
(Image source: wiki)
The year 2019 marks the 150th anniversary of the periodic table, which the United Nations General Assembly designated as the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements and commented: "The periodic table is one of the most remarkable discoveries in the history of science, portraying not only the nature of chemistry, but also the essence of physics and biology." ”
This periodic table of elements is one of the most important achievements in chemistry, and many Nobel Prize achievements are associated with it: 1906 Nobel Laureate Henry Moissan was famous for making elemental fluoride; Marie Curie won the 1911 Nobel Prize for the discovery of radium and polonium and successful separation of radium; Macmillan and Sieborg jointly won the 1951 Nobel Prize for the discovery of the ultrauranic element neptunium... These scientists who discovered new elements all won the Nobel Prize, but Mendeleev, who discovered the periodic law of the elements, did not win the prize, which is full of irony.
Le Châtre: The Man with Insight into the Chemical Balance
Le Châtre (Image: wiki)
High school chemistry involves some questions about the nature of chemical reactions, such as reaction equilibrium. Understanding the equilibrium of chemical reactions requires a strong ability to think abstractly, and one of the counterintuitive facts is that there is equilibrium in all chemical reactions. If you change a condition that affects equilibrium (such as concentration, pressure, or temperature), the equilibrium moves in a direction that can attenuate the change. This is the "Le Châtelet principle".
Linus Carl Pauling (1901-1994), a two-time Nobel laureate, once pointed out to young students: "You may no longer study chemistry in the future, you may forget all the chemical phenomena you learned in class, but in any case, please do not forget the Le Châtreet principle." ”
Pauling (Image: wiki)
Henry Louis Le Chatelier (1850-1936), who received such high praise from nobel laureates, was nominated for 32 Nobel Prizes, but 16 times accompanied him, and none of them won a Nobel Prize.
In addition to the earliest insight into chemical equilibrium, Le Châtre has another study that missed the Nobel Prize. As early as 1901, he obtained a method of synthesizing ammonia from the air and obtained a patent. With an understanding of the balance of reactions, Le Châtree knew that increasing pressure would definitely increase yields. But the experimental conditions were poor, and an accidental explosion of a high-pressure device killed his assistant, and Le Châtel abandoned the study. Later, as many people know, the German chemist Fritz Haber won the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the synthesis of ammonia.
Fritz Hubble (Image: wiki)
Le Châtrette also studied acetylene gases, as was his invention the oxygen alkyne flame generator for cutting and welding metals; in addition, he was concerned with the calcination and solidification of cement, the annealing of pottery and glassware, the manufacture of corrosive agents and the development of fuels, glass and explosives. It can be said that Le Châteaux was a typical pragmatist chemist of that era, concerned with industrial practice and focused on solving practical problems.
Le Châtrechtlier was not only a brilliant chemist, but also a brilliant patriot. When the First World War broke out, France was in danger, and he bravely assumed the position of Minister of Armed Forces, fighting to defend the motherland – what if he did not win the Nobel Prize? Mages who are not warriors are not good chemists.
Lewis: Understanding acids and bases in terms of electrons
Louis (Image: wiki)
The understanding of acids and bases in junior high school chemistry is based on protons: acids are acids because they give protons; alkalis can get protons. Gilbert Newton Lewis (1875-1946) did the opposite, defining acids and bases in electrons, greatly broadening chemists' understanding of acids and bases.
Louis's covalent theory is an important knowledge point in Chinese and foreign chemistry textbooks. In 1916, through the induction of experimental phenomena, he proposed that atoms in molecules can share electron pairs between them, so that each atom in the molecule has a stable structure of noble gas electrons. The molecules thus formed are called covalent molecules; the chemical bonds formed by the common pair of electrons between atoms are called covalent bonds. The "electronic type", "structural formula" and "dotted line type" written in the textbook are all variations of the Louis structural formula.
(Image source: Author's production)
Lewis not only changed the understanding of acids and bases, creating the covalent bond theory, but also the namer and famous educator of photons. His research is extensive, and his rich "miscellaneous" in the field of chemistry can be seen only in his students. As a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and former dean of the Berkeley School of Chemistry, his students have several Nobel Laureates:
Harold Clayton Yuri – inventor of deuterium and heavy water, winner of the 1934 Nobel Prize in Chemistry;
William Francis Giork – inventor of applied techniques for ultra-low temperature chemistry, winner of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Chemistry;
Glenn Theodore Seeborg – discoverer of the elements neptunium, americium, curium and germanium, winner of the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry;
Willard Libby – inventor of carbon-14 dating and winner of the 1960 Nobel Prize in Chemistry;
Melvin Calvin – researcher of photosynthesis mechanisms and discoverer of the Calvin cycle, winner of the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Whether he does his own research or mentors students, Louis has achieved great results, and he has been nominated for 41 Nobel Prizes in his lifetime, but he has never been able to get along with it.
There's also a little gossip about covalent theory.
In 1916, Lewis published a paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, "The Atom and The Molecule," in which he elaborated on his theory of covalence.
(Image source: American Chemical Society official website)
He had intended to continue to do more detailed research, but for some reason it could not be achieved quickly. In 1919, Irving Langmuir (1881-1957) developed and refined Lewis's views. The 1932 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry worked for the company, was outgoing, social and lecturing, and the theory of covalent bonds became known as the Louis-Langemuir theory.
This made Luis very unhappy, and the relationship between the two became tense from then on. In 1946, Langemuir was awarded honorary doctorate by the University of California, Berkeley, and Louis, who was the head of the chemistry department at the time, was forced to have a dinner appointment with him. That afternoon, 70-year-old Louis died of heart paralysis in his lab, next to a broken bottle containing hydrogen cyanide — and he died in the air with the smell of bitter almonds. As for whether it was suicide or not, it became a permanent mystery.
Gibbs: The founder of thermodynamics
Gibbs (Image: wiki)
The well-known principle of entropy increase is one of the basic principles of thermodynamics. Yang Zhenning believes that the three highest achievements of physics in the 19th century were thermodynamics, electromagnetism and statistics. Among them, the founder of thermodynamics was Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839-1903), who was called "the most outstanding hero in American history" by Einstein.
In the 1860s, the United States was the era of railroad tycoons, and the country built a large number of railways. Gibbs also joined in the fun and went to study related majors. In 1863, Gibbs was awarded the first Doctor of Engineering degree in the United States by Yale University for his thesis "On the Style of Spur Gear Teeth". With a lot of "money", he first stayed in school for three years as a teaching assistant after graduation, applied for a patent for train braking technology, and then traveled to Europe with his two sisters.
The trip completely changed Gibbs' academic interests. He audited many mathematical, physical and chemical courses in France and Germany, and also found an apprenticeship at the University of Heidelberg to study physics. After returning to Yale in 1869, Gibbs completely switched careers and became professor of mathematical physics in 1871. Since this was the first two-discipline professor in the United States at the time, and Gibbs had not yet published any academic achievements in the field, Gibbs was not paid as a professor. Fortunately, the Gibbs family has a background in the north of the United States, and Gibbs has a large inheritance left by his parents at this time, and his life is also stable.
Two years later, Gibbs published two papers in the Journal of the Connecticut Society on how to represent thermodynamic quantities geometrically. In 1875, still in this journal, Gibbs published the first half of On the Heterogeneous Material Equilibrium, and in 1878, the second half of the book was also published in this journal. Although published in the journal , Gibbs ' monograph is more than 300 pages long , including more than 700 equations with serial numbers. At that time, the American academic community did not pay attention to theory, and such academic achievements could only blossom inside the wall.
The first person to recognize Gibbs's genius insight was the founder of classical electrodynamics and the founder of statistical physics, the British physicist mathematician James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879), who devoted a chapter to Gibbs's work in his book. Unfortunately, Maxwell died young, and did not even see Gibbs systematically complete the foundation work of thermodynamics.
Maxwell (Image: wiki)
It wasn't until Gibbs's death that his work caught the attention of scholars. Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald (1853-1932), one of the founders of the 1909 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, translated Gibbs's work into German and praised: "Gibbs gave physical chemistry a hundred years in both form and content. ”
Ostwald (Image: wiki)
Gibbs, who was obsessed with his job, probably didn't care if he won the Nobel Prize. He never married in his life, was happy to be alone, and it is said that even students had difficulty approaching him. According to the students' recollections, Gibbs was always well-dressed, elegant, and never deliberately noticed, showing the kind of weird behavior that was sometimes considered the innate genius. Perhaps science itself is the greatest reward for Gibbs's life.
Why didn't the big guys win the Nobel Prize?
Everyone can't help but wonder why the scientific research achievements of the above big guys have been recorded in the annals of history, and why they did not win the Nobel Prize. In detail, everyone's reasons are very complicated, and to sum up, there are the following possibilities.
First, not being sociable and offending peers or predecessors. Many hardcore big guys are introverted, not good at socializing, more skeletal, and offend people if they don't get it right. Mendeleev is said to have criticized Svante August Arrhenius 's theory of dissolution in his early years. Although Alenius was not a member of the Nobel Committee on Chemistry, he was a very early Nobel laureate in chemistry and was the bearer of the Swedish chemical community at that time. Against his strong objections, Mendeleev lost the election twice. Neither Lewis nor Gibbs was very good at socializing, and failed to spread their shocking discoveries to the entire academic community as quickly as possible.
Arrhenius (Image: wiki)
Second, if you are not born at the right time, you will not meet huai. Louis was nominated from 1922 until his death in 1946, but his academic brilliance was overshadowed by the physics that was popular at the time, especially when European scholars preferred quantum mechanics. Theories supported by mathematics are more credible and more ambitious. In contrast, Lewis's acid-base theory is insignificant.
Third, the field of study is too narrow or too wide. Le Châteauté's most prominent contribution is only one Le Châtree principle, which is not only too narrow but also too crude in theory; Lewis's research field ranges from chemical thermodynamics to chemical bond theory to isotopes and photochemistry, which is too broad. The field of research is too narrow and relatively low-profile; too wide, it is difficult to achieve outstanding achievements in a certain field.
Fourth, too much emphasis on theory. Whether it was Mendeleev, Le Châteauté or Louis, their greatest contribution was the theory of chemistry. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is relatively conservative in theory and more in favor of rewarding experimental facts. Not to mention Gibbs's thermodynamics, which few people understood at the time, and people did not realize the great significance of his guidance of experimental chemistry at the theoretical level, and naturally had no connection with the Nobel Prize.
Fifth, longevity and nationality. Since the Nobel Prize is only awarded to living scientists, many scientists do not receive the Nobel Prize because they died too early. Mendeleev died in 1907 and had only six chances to enter the competition; leaving Gibbs even shorter, who died in April 1903 with only two years to participate. And when I first started to evaluate the Nobel Prize, there were too many cattle people to choose, and it was not gibbs who focused on theory. In addition, Gibbs is still an American, you know, in the first 30 years of the Nobel Prize, only one American won...
In fact, there are many, many scientists who have not won the Nobel Prize, and although there are regrets, this does not affect their greatness at all. On the 120th anniversary of the Nobel Prize, when we look at the shining names on the list of Nobel laureates, we must not forget these scientists who have not won the Nobel Prize but are still great.
Hats off to every researcher who has contributed to the eradication of human ignorance!
bibliography:
[1] Mendeleev and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemistry Education, No. 5, 2017, 94-96.
[2] "Another Look at the Nobel Prize: Missing Milestones", Encyclopedia of Knowledge, No. 10, 2016, 18-21.
[3] Prof. H. L. Le Chatelier, https://doi.org/10.1038/130535b0
[4] Prof. H. L. Le Chatelier, For. Mem. R.S.,https://doi.org/10.1038/138711a0
[5] "The Unworthy Nobel Prize Winner G. N. Louis", Chemical Times, No. 7, 1987, 43.
[6] The famous American chemist G. N. Lewis," Chemical Bulletin, No. 8, 1985, 56-58.
[7] "The World's Top 10 Scientists Who Missed the Nobel Prize", Today Science Garden, No. 2, 2012, 58-60.
[8] Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839–1903)，https://doi.org/10.1038/143233c0
[9] Josiah Willard Gibbs，DOI：10.1021/ed032p267
[10] Josiah Willard Gibbs and Wilhelm Ostwald: A Contrast in Scientific Style，DOI：10.1021/ed073p289
[11] "A Brief Analysis of the Reasons Behind the Missed Nobel Prize in Chemistry", Guangdong Chemical Industry, No. 21, 2016, 225-227.
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