Peter Debye

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Peter Debye : biography

March 24, 1884 – November 2, 1966

Yet, the report also states that the picture of Debye should not be oversimplified as Debyes actions were also motivated by his loyalty to his daughter, who had remained in Berlin. In general, Debye developed a survival method of ambiguity, that "could pull the wool over people’s eyes".Eickhoff, Martijn "In the Name of Science?", Aksant, Amsterdam, 2008, p. 131.

2008 Terlouw report

In January 2008 the Terlouw Commission advised the Boards of Utrecht and Maastricht Universities to continue to use Peter Debye’s name for the chemistry and physics institute in Utrecht, and to continue awarding the science prize in Maastricht.. Press release University of Utrecht. 17 January 2008. The Commission concluded that Debye was not a party member, was not an anti-semite, did not further Nazi propaganda, did not cooperate with the Nazi war machine, was not a collaborator, and yet also was not a resistance hero. He was a rather pragmatic, flexible, and brilliant scientist, idealistic with respect to the pursuit of science, but only superficially oriented in politics. With respect to sending out the DPG letter, the Commission concluded that Debye found the situation inescapable. The Commission pointed out that the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences also took away Albert Einstein’s honorary membership, emphasizing the circumstances in which these decisions had be taken. The Commission stated that now, seventy years later, no judgment can be made concerning the decision of Debye to sign this letter in the exceptionally difficult circumstances in which he then found himself. Nevertheless, the Commission describes the DPG letter as an extraordinarily unpleasant fact, forming a dark page in his life history. Finally, the Commission concluded that based on the NIOD report since no bad faith on Debye’s part has been demonstrated, his good faith must be assumed and recommended that the University of Utrecht retain the name of the Debye Institute of NanoMaterials Science and that the University of Maastricht continue to associate itself with the Peter Debye Prize. Utrecht University accepted the recommendation, Maastricht University did not. But in February 2008, the Hustinx Foundation (Maastricht), originator and sponsor of the Peter Debye Prize, announced that it will continue to have the prize awarded. The City of Maastricht, Debye’s birthplace, declared that it sees no reason to change the names of Debye Street and Debye Square.

Debye the spy

In a 2010 publication Jurrie Reiding asserts that Debye may have been an MI6 spy Reiding discovered that Debye was befriended with the well-documented spy Paul Rosbaud. They first met around 1930 when they were both working as editors for two scientific journals. They collaborated in the escape of Lise Meitner in 1938. According to Reiding Debye was well connected in German scientific and industrial circles and could have provided MI6 with valuable information. For example as board member of the German Academy for Aviation Research he was acquainted with Hermann Göring. Reiding also offers an explanation for Debye’s hasty departure on 16 January 1940 for the United States: the date coincided with the planned (but later delayed) German invasion of the Netherlands a day later, information possibly passed on to him by Rosbaud.

Eponyms

  • Debye shielding – In plasmas, semiconductors and electrolytes, the process by which a fixed electric charge is shielded by redistributing mobile charged particles around it.
  • Debye length – The typical distance in a plasma required for full Debye shielding.
  • Debye model – A model of the heat capacity of solids as a function of temperature
  • Debye – a unit of electric dipole moment
  • Debye frequency – a characteristic vibrational frequency of a crystalline lattice.
  • Debye relaxation – The dielectric relaxation response of an ideal, noninteracting population of dipoles to an alternating external electric field.
  • Debye sheath – The non-neutral layer, several Debye lengths thick, where a plasma contacts a material surface.
  • Debye-Hückel equation – A method of calculating activity coefficients
  • Debye function – A function used in the calculation of heat capacity.
  • Debye-Scherrer method – A technique used in X-ray powder diffraction.
  • Debye-Waller factor – A measure of disorder in a crystal lattice.
  • 30852 Debye – A minor planet (originally named 1991 TR6).
  • Lorenz-Mie-Debye theory Theory of light scattering by a spherical particle.
  • Debye (crater) – A lunar crater located on the far side and in the northern hemisphere of the moon.

Awards and honors

  • 1930 – Rumford Medal for work relating to specific heats and X-ray spectroscopy
  • 1937 – Franklin Medal from The Franklin Institute.
  • 1936 – Nobel Prize in Chemistry () "for his contributions to the study of molecular structure," primarily referring to his work on dipole moments and X-ray diffraction
  • 1963 – Priestley Medal
  • 1965 – National Medal of Science. Nsf.gov (1966-02-10). Retrieved on 2012-07-25.
  • 1982 – Alpha Chi Sigma Hall of Famehttp://www.alphachisigma.org/page.aspx?pid=268