Josiah Willard Gibbs

For Josiah Willard Gibbs, Sr. see Willard Gibbs (linguist)

Josiah Willard Gibbs (February 11, 1839 – April 28, 1903) was an American mathematical physicist who contributed much of the theoretical foundation that led to the development of chemical thermodynamics and was one of the founders of vector analysis. From 1871 until his death, he held the chair of mathematical physics at Yale.

Between 1876 and 1878 Gibbs wrote a series of papers collectively entitled "On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances", considered one of the greatest achievements in physical science in the 19th century and the foundation of the science of physical chemistry. In these papers Gibbs applied thermodynamics to the interpretation of physicochemical phenomena and showed the explanation and interrelationship of what had been known only as isolated, inexplicable facts. [1] "It is universally recognised that its publication was an event of the first importance in the history of chemistry. ... Nevertheless it was a number of years before its value was generally known, this delay was due largely to the fact that its mathematical form and rigorous deductive processes make it difficult reading for any one, and especially so for students of experimental chemistry whom it most concerns... " [2]

Gibbs' scientific career can be divided into four phases. Up until 1879, he worked on the theory of thermodynamics. From 1880 to 1884, he worked on the field of vector analysis. From 1882 to 1889, he worked on optics and the electromagnetic theory of light. After 1889, he worked on statistical mechanics and textbooks on that matter.

Biography

Early years

Gibbs was born in New Haven, Connecticut, where his father was a professor of sacred literature at Yale University's Divinity School, best known today for his involvement in the Amistad trial. (Though his father was also named Josiah Willard, he is not referred to as "Josiah Willard Gibbs, Jr.") Gibbs attended Yale College of Yale University, receiving prizes in mathematics and Latin. Gibbs was the seventh in a long line of American academics stretching back to the 17th century. He graduated, high in his class, in 1858.

Middle years

Gibbs continued his studies at Yale, gaining his Ph.D. degree in 1863. This was the first engineering doctorate granted in the United States. He then tutored in Yale College: two years in Latin and a year in what was then called "natural philosophy." In 1866 he went to Europe to study, spending one year each at Paris, Berlin, and Heidelberg, where he was influenced by the luminaries Kirchhoff and Helmholtz. These three years were almost the only time he was ever away from the New Haven area.

In 1869 he returned to Yale and, in 1871, he was appointed Professor of Mathematical Physics. This was the first professorship in mathematical physics in the United States. It was unpaid, in part because Gibbs had never published.

Gibbs then started work on the development and presentation of his theory of thermodynamics. In 1873, Gibbs published a paper on the geometric representation of thermodynamic quantities. This paper inspired Maxwell to make (with his own hands) a plaster cast illustrating Gibbs' construct (which he sent to Gibbs and which Yale still retains with great pride).

Gibbs next published the paper "On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances", which clearly revealed the genius of its author. This appeared in two installments in 1876 and 1878. Gibbs' papers on heterogeneous equilibria included:

Some chemical potential concepts
Some free energy concepts
A Gibbsian ensemble ideal (basis of the statistical mechanics field)
A phase rule

Later years

In 1880, Gibbs was offered a $3000 salary by the new Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and Yale responded by offering him $2000, which seemingly was enough to keep him in New Haven.

From 1880 to 1884, Gibbs combined the ideas of the Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton on quaternions and the German Hermann Grassmann's Theory of Extension (Ausdehnungslehre) to produce the mathematical field of vector analysis (co-independent formulation; Oliver Heaviside also developed this field). Gibbs designed this to suit the purposes of mathematical physics.

From 1882 to 1889, Gibbs researched optics, developing a new electrical theory of light. Gibbs also completed his vector analysis during this time. He deliberately avoided theorizing on the structure of matter, developing a theory of more generality than any type of matter composition would imply. After 1889, Gibbs produced milestone textbooks on statistical mechanics, which were published by Yale in 1902. "His work on statistical mechanics was also important, providing a mathematical framework for quantum theory and for Maxwell's theories." [3] Further, Gibbs contributed to crystallography and the determinism of planetary and comet orbits by his vector methods.

Gibbs never married, but lived with his sister and brother-in-law. His brother-in-law was librarian at Yale and publisher of the Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Sciences, the little read journal which published most of Gibbs' work.

Death and afterwards

Gibbs remained at Yale until his death in 1903. Since Gibbs died shortly after the inauguration of the Nobel Prizes, he never won a Nobel. However, his receipt of the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of the United Kingdom is regarded as the highest honor available at the time from the international scientific community.

Scientific recognition

Among the honors given to Gibbs' memory after his death, Yale University created the "J. Willard Gibbs Professorship in Theoretical Chemistry". Held during most of his career at Yale by eventual Nobel Prize laureate Lars Onsager, it was an extremely appropriate title for Onsager, who was primarily involved, like Gibbs, in the application of new mathematical ideas to problems in physical chemistry, especially statistical mechanics.

Since, in the mid-1800s, American colleges had little interest in the sciences and emphasized classics, Gibbs found little student interest in his lectures. The interest in his work came mainly from other scientists, particularly the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell, who was one of the first European scientists to recognize Gibbs as theoretical physicist of international stature [4]. Even that recognition was slow in coming, because he published in an obscure journal which was not widely read in Europe, and it was only when Wilhelm Ostwald translated his papers into book form in German (in 1892) and Henri Louis le Chatelier made a French translation (in 1899), that his ideas received wide currency in Europe.

External links and references

The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, "Josiah Willard Gibbs". School of Mathematics and Statistics. University of St Andrews, Scotland.
AIP, "Josiah Willard Gibbs 1839-1903". 1976, 2003.
Friel, Charles Michael, "J. Willard Gibbs".
Jolls, Kenneth R., and Daniel C. Coy, "Gibbs models". Iowa State University.
"Dr. J. Willard Gibbs".
Rukeyser, Muriel, "Willard Gibbs", Ox Bow Press, Woodbridge, CT, ISBN 0-918024-57-9 [Reprint of first edition published in 1942].