Walther Nernst

Nernst was born in Briesen[?], Prussia. He studied physics and mathematics at the universities of Z�rich, Berlin and Graz. After some work in Leipzig, he founded the Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry at G�ttingen. In 1920, he received the Nobel Prize in physics. In 1924, he became director of the Physikalisch-Chemisches Institut in Berlin, a position from which he retired in 1933.

Nernst contributed greatly to electrochemistry, thermodynamics, solid state chemistry and photochemistry[?]. Amongst his most notable discoveries were

• his "heat theorem", also known as the third law of thermodynamics[?]
• the Nernst equation