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The Chemical Educator
ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)
Abstract Volume 5
Issue 3 (2000) pp 156-161
Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem: A Polemical Scientist
Jaime Wisniak
Department of Chemical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel 84105
Published online: 1 June 2000
Abstract. Pierre Duhem was a multifaceted and prolific scientist active in thermodynamics, physics, history, and philosophy. His rigid and noncompromising attitude, together with deep religious feelings at a time when France was riding a very strong wave of anticlericalism, led to his being unable to teach in Paris and to academic exile in the provinces. He was a prolific writer and he left his name on many equations such as the Gibbs-Duhem and Duhem-Margules equations. We present here a general picture of his life and activities against the political climate in France as well as a discussion of some of his most important contributions to thermodynamics.
Key Words: Chemistry and History; physical chemistry
(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: wisniak@bgumail.bgu.ac.il)
Article in PDF format (281 KB) HTML format
Issue date: June
1, 2000
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