Top: De Materie phographed by Stephanie Berger. Bottom: Photograph of the first Solvay Conference in 1911. Seated (L-R): W. Nernst, M. Brillouin, E. Solvay, H. Lorentz, E. Warburg, J. Perrin, W. Wien, M. Skłodowska-Curie, and H. Poincaré. Standing (L-R): R. Goldschmidt, M. Planck, H. Rubens, A. Sommerfeld, F. Lindemann, M. de Broglie, M. Knudsen, F. Hasenöhrl, G. Hostelet, E. Herzen, J.H. Jeans, E. Rutherford, H. Kamerlingh Onnes, A. Einstein and P. Langevin.
As we prepare for the last performance of De Materie, let us take a look at the fourth movement of Louis Andriessen’s masterwork, which presents a tableau vivant of the 1911 Solvay Conference. Towards the end of the piece, Polish-French scientist Marie Curie appears and recites a combination of her Nobel Prize-winning speech and fragments from a diary she kept after her husband Pierre died in 1906. The Solvay Conference took place in Brussels in 1911 and the topic focused on “Radiation and Quanta.” This conference allowed the pioneers of these disciplines to address problems and approaches in classical physics and quantum theory, and was where Madame Curie first presented her development of the theory of radioactivity, a term she coined. The success of the first Solvay Conference established a legacy that has led to its continuation, which takes place every three years, when renowned scholars come together to further discuss the ever-changing fields of physics and chemistry. Below we take a look at the scientists and scholars who attended the first Solvay Conference in 1911.
Maria Salomea Sklodowska-Curie (1867-1934) was a physicist and chemist who devoted her career to doing research on radioactivity. Some of her major accomplishments include developing the theory of radioactivity, innovating techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and discovering elements polonium and radium. Curie was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize, and the only woman to win it twice for different scientific disciplines. She founded the Curie Institutes in Paris and her hometown, Warsaw, both of which continue her scientific legacy and are leading centers of medical research today.
Walther Hermann Nernst (1864-1941) was a German physicist whose research and theories for the calculation of chemical affinity won him the 1920 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Other accomplishments include developing the Nernst equation. His scientific contributions have helped establish the modern field of physical chemistry.
Louis Marcel Brilloui (1854-1948) was a French physicist and mathematician, and worked for 31 years as a Professor of Mathematical Physics at the College de France. Brillouin contributed to 200 scientific papers on a wide range of topics including kinetic theory, viscosity, and electricity.
Ernest Gaston Joseph Solway (1838-1922) was a Belgian chemist, industrialist, and philanthropist. His major accomplishments include developing ammonia-soda process that improved the manufacture of soda ash and limestone. Establishing processing plants brought Solvay an increasing amount of wealth which he used for philanthropic causes.
Hendrik Lorentz (1853-1928) was a Dutch physicist whose theory of the Zeeman effect won him and Pieter Zeeman the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics. Lorentz’s research on the transformation equations laid the foundation of Albert Einstein’s theory of the special relativity. Revered by many in his field, Lorentz is seen as an innovator who completed the work of his predecessors and laid the groundwork for future physicists.
Emil Gabriel Warburg (1946-1931) was a German Physicist who devoted his career to research in areas of kinetic theory of gases, electrical conductivity, gas discharges, heat radiation, ferromagnetism and photochemistry. Warburg was a professor of physics at the University of Strassburg.
Jean Baptiste Perrin (1870-1942) was a French physicist who studied the Brownian motion of particles suspended in liquids. His research on the atomic nature of matter won him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1926.
Wilhelm Wien (1964-1928) was a German physicist who devoted his research to theories about heat, and electromagnetism. His notion of adiabatic invariance became fundamental for the field of quantum mechanics. He won the Nobel Prize in 1911 for his work on heat radiation.
Henri Poincare (1854-1912) was a French mathematician, physicist, engineer, and philosopher of science. His contributions are instrumental in the fields of pure and applied mathematics. He formulated the Poincare Conjecture which was one of the most famous unsolved problems in mathematics until it was solved in 2002-03. Poincare himself was known as being able to excel and contribute to all scientific disciplines of his time.
Robert Goldschmidt (1877-1935) was a Belgian chemist, physicist, and engineer. Goldschmidt was the first to conjure up the idea of standardized microfiche. His research also contributed to advances in aviation and wireless telegraphy.
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (1858-1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose contributions to the work on quantum theory were honored with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. His legacy of the quantum theory has transformed human understanding of atomic and subatomic process.
Heinrich Rubens (1863-1922) was a German physicist. Rubens’ major accomplishments include his work in black-body radiation, which was fundamental for fellow Solvay conference attendee Max Planck’s discovery of radiation law. Rubens received the Rumford Medal in 1910 for his work in radiation and longwave length.
Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld (1869-1951) was a German theoretical physicist who contributed to the pioneering of developments in atomic and quantum physics. Sommerfeld served as a PhD supervisor for many Nobel Prize winners in physics.
Frederick Lindemann (1886-1957) was an English physicist. He developed a mathematical theory of aircraft spin recovery. He was one of the first people to suggest, in 1919, that in the solar wind particles of both polarities (protons and electrons) come from the sun.
Maurice de Broglie (1875-1960) was a French physicist. He made advances in the study of X-ray diffraction and spectroscopy.
Martin Knudsen (1871-1949) was Danish physicist known for his study of molecular gas flow. He developed the Knudsen cell, a primary component of molecular beam epitaxy systems.
Friedrich Hasenöhrl (1874-1915) was an Austrian physicist. He challenged the electromagnetic mass formula. and used different theories from scientists like Einstein and Planck to further his work.
Georges Hostelet (1875-1960) was a Belgian mathematician, philosopher and sociologist. He published The Scientific Investigation of The Facts of Human Activity right before he passed away. He proposed a review of the categorial imperative by the philosopher Kant.
Édouard Herzen (1877-1936) was a Belgian Chemist. He played a leading role in the development of chemistry and physics in the 20th Century.
James Hopwood Jeans (1877-1946) was an English physicist, astronomer, and mathematician who developed the concept of Jeans length, a critical radius of an interstellar cloud in space.
Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937) was a New Zealand-born British physicist. He worked with J. J. Thompson on conductive effects of X-rays on gas. This work led to the discovery of the electron. Because of this, he is known as the father of nuclear physics.
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1853-1926) was a Dutch physicist and Nobel laureate. In 1911, he found that at 4.2 K the resistance of solid mercury in liquid helium suddenly vanishes, and he called this Superconductivity (electrical resistance).
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was a German theoretical physicist. He developed the theory of relativity. He came up with the energy equivalence formula (E=mc2).
Paul Langevin (1872-1946) was a French physicist. He developed the Langevin dynamics and the Langevin equation. He worked with a colleague to patent the first ultrasonic submarine detector.
THANK YOU: Youth Corps Researchers: Paola (Phase III) & Manuella (Phase I)
Sources: 1911 Solvay Conference, W. Nernst , M. Brillouin, E. Solvay,H. Lorentz, E. Warburg,J. Perrin, W. Wien,M. Skłodowska-Curie, andH. Poincaré. Standing (L-R):R. Goldschmidt, M. Planck,H. Rubens, A. Sommerfeld,F. Lindemann,M. de Broglie,M. Knudsen, F. Hasenöhrl,G. Hostelet, E. Herzen,J.H. Jeans, E. Rutherford,H. Kamerlingh Onnes, A. Einstein and P. Langevin.