Carl Wagner

Carl Wilhelm Wagner ( born May 25, 1901 in Leipzig, † December 10, 1977 in Göttingen ) was a German physical chemist. He is considered a pioneer of modern solid state chemistry.

Life

Wagner was born in 1901 as the son of a chemist Julius Wagner ( 1857-1924 ) in Leipzig. His father was an assistant of Wilhelm Ostwald and the first Professor of Chemistry Education in Germany as well as CEO of the German Bunsen Society for Physical Chemistry.

He attended until 1920 the humanist Thomas School in Leipzig. He studied chemistry at the University of Leipzig. In electrochemistry it was founded in 1924 by Max Le Blanc with the thesis contributions to the knowledge of the reaction rate in solutions to the Dr. phil. doctorate.

From 1924 to 1927 he was a research assistant at the Pharmaceutical Institute of the Ludwig -Maximilians- University of Munich. He habilitated in 1927 with Theodor Paul with the work contributions to the knowledge of the mechanism of chemical reactions and was a lecturer in Applied Chemistry.

From 1927 to 1928 he was a fellow of the Emergency Association of German Science (now the German Research Foundation ) at the bottom Stein Institute of the Friedrich -Wilhelms -Universität zu Berlin. He met during his stay Walter Schottky and Wilhelm Jost, who shaped him scientifically.

From 1928 to 1933 he was a lecturer and assistant professor at the Institute of Chemistry of the Friedrich -Schiller- University Jena. In 1933 he was appointed associate professor. Together with Walter Schottky and Hermann Ulich 1930 he wrote the well-known work theory of ordered mixed phases. In this they founded the defect thermodynamics of solid state chemistry.

From 1933 to 1934 he was visiting professor of physical chemistry at the University of Hamburg. In 1934 he became an associate in 1940 and Full Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Technical University of Darmstadt. He was among the leaders and developed control mechanisms for the German rocket development in the Army Research Center Peenemünde.

From 1945 to 1949 he was Scientific Advisor to the Ordnance Research and Development Division Sub - Office ( Rocket ) at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. He belonged to the group of Wernher von Braun and worked on the thermodynamics of rocket fuels. From 1950 to 1954 he was a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, USA. In 1955 he became professor of metallurgy.

In 1958 he returned to Germany and worked as a successor of Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer director of the Max Planck Institute for Physical Chemistry until 1966, which came up in 1971 at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. Even after that he worked and published scientifically more in touch with the younger scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. In 1960 he was awarded an honorary professorship at the University of Göttingen. In 1961 he has described in the essay theory of aging of precipitates by recrystallization ( Ostwald ripening ) quantitatively the theory of Ostwald ripening.

Carl Wagner died in 1977 in Göttingen.

Science

Wagner was one of the forerunners of modern solid state chemistry. He founded the solid state electrochemistry and made an important contribution to corrosion. He also described the formation of double salts (eg spinel) and examined the tarnishing of metals using the theory of lattice defects. The theory also served to describe the Leitungsmechanismusses the Nernst lamp.

The he created Wagner- factor or thermodynamic factor is a dimensionless number and is used in electrochemistry the description of the current distribution:

• Conductivity of the electrolyte [ Ω -1 · M-1 ]
• Variation of the polarization of the electrode in dependence on the variation of the current density [ Ω · m2]
• The characteristic length [m]

Awards and Affiliations

Carl Wagner Award

To commemorate the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen has the Carl Wagner Award donated.

Writings (selection )

• Thermodynamics. The doctrine of the circle processes, physical and chemical changes and equilibria, an introduction to the thermodynamic problems of our power and material economy by W. Schottky, H. Ulich and C. Wagner, Verlag Julius Springer, Berlin, 1929.