Background
Werner Kuhn was born on February 6, 1899, in Maur, near Zurich, Switzerland.
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Gallery of Werner Kuhn
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zurich, Zurich, Germany
Kuhn began his studies in 1917 at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zurich, where he earned his chemical engineering degree. He received his doctorate in 1924 for a work on the photochemical decomposition of ammonia.
Gallery of Werner Kuhn
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Kuhn studied at the Institute for Theoretical Physics of the University of Copenhagen, where, like many others, he became a lifelong admirer of Niels Bohr.
src="/web/img/loading.gif" data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2678749&cache=false" alt="Other photo of Werner Kuhn" class="gallery__img" height="167"
Other photo of Werner Kuhn
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zurich, Zurich, Germany
Kuhn began his studies in 1917 at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zurich, where he earned his chemical engineering degree. He received his doctorate in 1924 for a work on the photochemical decomposition of ammonia.
src="/web/img/loading.gif" data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2678797&cache=false" alt="Other photo of Werner Kuhn" class="gallery__img" height="167"
Other photo of Werner Kuhn
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Kuhn studied at the Institute for Theoretical Physics of the University of Copenhagen, where, like many others, he became a lifelong admirer of Niels Bohr.
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Werner Kuhn
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Werner Kuhn was a Swiss physical chemist. He developed the first model of the viscosity of polymer solutions using statistical mechanics, and was the first to apply Boltzmann's entropy formula to the modeling of rubber molecules. He also served as a professor at the University of Kiel and director of the Physico-Chemical Institute of the University of Basel.
Education
Kuhn began his studies in 1917 at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zurich, where he earned his chemical engineering degree. He received his doctorate in 1924 for a work on the photochemical decomposition of ammonia. At a later date, Kuhn again investigated the interaction of electromagnetic radiation and matter. He also studied at the Institute for Theoretical Physics of the University of Copenhagen, where, like many others, he became a lifelong admirer of Niels Bohr.
Career
In 1927 Kuhn qualified as a lecturer at the Physico-Chemical Institute of the University of Zurich with a work on the anomalous dispersion of thallium and cadmium. From 1928 to 1930 he worked with K. Freudenberg in Heidelberg, where he furnished a model interpretation of the natural optical activity. He then accepted the position of extraordinary professor at the Technical College in Karlsruhe.
In 1936 Kuhn was appointed a professor Ordinarius at the University of Kiel. In 1939 he received an offer he had been hoping for - to return to his native Switzerland to assume a post at the Physico-Chemical Institute of the University of Basel.
Kuhn was a rector of the University of Basel in 1955-1956. From 1957 to 1961 he was a president of the physical chemistry section of the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry.
Achievements
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Werner Kuhn went down in history as a noted physical chemist, best known for the development of the first model of the viscosity of polymer solutions using statistical mechanics and for being the first to apply Boltzmann's entropy formula to the modeling of rubber molecules. This model, which resulted in the derivation of the thermal equation of state of rubber, has since been extrapolated to the entropic modeling of proteins and other conformational polymer chained molecules attached to a surface. Along with his student V.B. Hargitay, he was the first to hypothesize the countercurrent multiplier mechanism in the mammalian kidney, later to be discovered in many other similar biological systems.
Views
In his famous work on optical dispersion, Über die Gesamtstärke der von einem Zustande ausgehenden Absorptionslinien, Kuhn derived the formula for the sum of the squares of the amplitudes of the electric moments belonging to all the transitions that start from the same energy level. Both Kuhn and W. Thomas, influenced by the work of H. A. Kramers and Bohr, worked in the same area but published their results separately.
Kuhn increasingly turned his attention to the study of macromolecules which, along with optical activity, became one of his chief fields of research. Taking rod-shaped molecules as the basis for the calculation of the viscosity of solutions, he arrived at results that contradicted those obtained by Hermann Staudinger. From these calculations, Kuhn concluded that the molecules must have the form of a coiled chain. This model finally enabled him to understand the transformation of chemical energy into mechanical energy, as it occurs in the muscles, for example.
As early as 1932, together with Hans Martin, he had achieved by photochemical means a partial separation of the isotopes Cl35 and Cl37. In Basel, he soon developed an effective method of obtaining heavy water. Kuhn’s theory of separation enabled him to understand important physiological processes - for example, the mechanism of urine concentration in the kidney and the production of high gas pressure in the air bladder of the fish.
Membership
Kuhn was a fellow of the Rockfeller Foundation.
Connections
Kuhn was probably married, but nothing is known about his family.
References
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Born
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Died
August 27, 1963 (aged 64) -
Nationality
Swiss -
Ethnicity
Education
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1917 - 1924
Career
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1927 - 1928
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1928 - 1930
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1930 - 1936
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1936 - 1939
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1939 - 1955
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1955 - 1956
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1957 - 1961