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Walther Hermann Nernst
(25 Jun 1864 - 18 Nov 1941)
German physical chemist.
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Science Quotes by Walther Hermann Nernst (3 quotes)
On examinations: Das Wissen ist der Tad der Forschung.
Knowledge is the death of research.
Nernst's motto.
Knowledge is the death of research.
Nernst's motto.
— Walther Hermann Nernst
Erwin N. Hiebert, 'Hermann Walther Nemst', in C. C. Gillispie (ed.), The Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1981), Supplement, Vol. 15, 450.
No effect that requires more than 10 percent accuracy in measurement is worth investigating.
— Walther Hermann Nernst
…...
One should avoid carrying out an experiment requiring more than 10 per cent accuracy.
— Walther Hermann Nernst
Quoted in W. Jost, '45 Years of Physical Chemistry in Germany', Annual Review of Physical Chemistry (1966), 17, 9.
Quotes by others about Walther Hermann Nernst (2)
We can distinguish three groups of scientific men. In the first and very small group we have the men who discover fundamental relations. Among these are van’t Hoff, Arrhenius and Nernst. In the second group we have the men who do not make the great discovery but who see the importance and bearing of it, and who preach the gospel to the heathen. Ostwald stands absolutely at the head of this group. The last group contains the rest of us, the men who have to have things explained to us.
'Ostwald', Journal of Chemical Education, 1933, 10, 612, as cited by Erwin N. Hiebert and Hans-Gunther Korber in article on Ostwald in Charles Coulston Gillespie (ed.), Dictionary of Scientific Biography Supplement 1, Vol 15-16, 466, which also says Wilder Bancroft "received his doctorate under Ostwald in 1892."
Nernst was a great admirer of Shakespeare, and it is said that in a conference concerned with naming units after appropriate persons, he proposed that the unit of rate of liquid flow should be called the falstaff.
'The Nemst Memorial Lecture', Journal of the Chemical Society (1953), Part 3, 2855.
See also:
- 25 Jun - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Nernst's birth.
- Walther Nernst and the Transition to Modern Physical Science, by Diana Kormos Barkan. - book suggestion.
- Booklist for Walther Nernst.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
