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| '''Peter Jospeh William Debye''' (1884-1966) was a Dutch physicist and physical chemist. The [[Debye]] unit of electric dipole moment was named in his honour. | | {{Stub-person}} |
| | | '''Peter J. W. Debye''' was a Dutch physicist and physical chemist. The [[Debye]] unit of electric dipole moment was named in his honour. |
| Debye was born on March 24, 1884 in in Maastricht, Netherlands, and attended Aachen University of Technology where he received a degree in electrical engineering in 1905. In 1906, his mentor Arnold Sommerfeld was appointed to the faculty at Munich and Debye went with him and earned a Ph.D. in 1908 with a dissertation on radiation pressure.
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| In 1936, Debye won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his contributions to our knowledge of molecular structure through his investigations on dipole moments and on the diffraction of X-rays and electrons in gases."<ref>http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1936/index.html</ref>
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| In 1939, Debye travelled to the United States to deliver the Baker Lectures at Cornell University. He then emigrated from Germany in early 1940 to become a chemistry professor at Cornell and chaired the department for 10 years. In 1946, Debye became a U.S. citizen. Debye retired from Cornell in 1952, but continued his research there until his death on November 2, 1966.
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| ==War activities and controversies==
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| From 2006 to 2008, Debye's activities in Germany during World War II have been debated regarding possible antisemitism or Nazi sympathy. Cornell's department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology issued a report concluding there was no evidence of either.<ref>[http://home.hetnet.nl/~alchemilab/alchemie/DebyeCornell.htm Cornell University Report]</ref> In 2008, the Terlouw Commission also cleared Debye.<ref>[http://www.science.uu.nl/nieuwsenagenda/items/20080117/uk/ Terlouw Commission: ‘Continue using Debye’s name’ Press release University of Utrecht]</ref>
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| ==References==
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| <references/>
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| ==External links==
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| *[http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/~eugeniik/history/debye.html Debye Biography] - Institute of Chemistry, Hebrew University
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| *[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1936/debye-bio.html Debye Biography] - Nobel Prize
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| *[http://www.nndb.com/people/190/000099890/ Debye Biography] - NNDB
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| *[http://journals.iucr.org/q/issues/1967/06/00/a05589/a05589.pdf Debye Biography] - IUCR
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| * Museum Boerhaave [http://www.museumboerhaave.nl/ONDERWIJS/VOORTGEZET/2defase/ANW/pdf/nobelprijswinnaars.pdf Negen Nederlandse Nobelprijswinnaars]
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| * [http://www.dpg-physik.de/dpg/organisation/fachlich/gp/debye_en.html Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG)]
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| * [http://www.kennislink.nl/web/show?id=145191 Kennislink]
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| * [http://www.rispens.de Dr. Rispens research]
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| * [http://www.debye.uu.nl/ Debye Institute]
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| [[category:person]] | | [[category:person]] |