Agnes Pockels | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 14 February 1862 |
| Died | 21 November 1935 (aged 73) |
| Nationality | German |
| Known for | Pioneer of surface science |
| Awards | Laura Leonard Award |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemistry/Physics |
Agnes Luise Wilhelmine Pockels (14 February 1862 – 21 November 1935) was a German chemist whose research was fundamental in establishing the modern discipline known as surface science, which describes the properties of liquid and solid surfaces and interfaces.[1]
Pockels became interested in fundamental research in surface science through observations of soaps and soapy water in her own home while washing dishes. She devised a surface film balance technique to study the behavior of molecules such as soaps and surfactants at air-liquid interfaces. From these studies, Pockels defined the "Pockels Point" which is the minimum area that a single molecule can occupy in monomolecular films.[2]
Pockels was an autodidact. She was not a paid, professional scientist and had no institutional affiliation and so is an example of a citizen scientist.[3]
By contrast, her brother Friedrich Carl Alwin Pockels, for whom the Pockels effect was named, was a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Heidelberg.
- ^ Byers, Nina; Williams, Gary, eds. (2010). Out of the Shadows : Contributions of Twentieth-Century Women to Physics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 36–42. ISBN 9780521169622.
- ^ Derrick, M. Elizabeth (December 1982). "Agnes Pockels, 1862-1935". Journal of Chemical Education. 59 (12): 1030–1031. Bibcode:1982JChEd..59.1030D. doi:10.1021/ed059p1030. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
- ^ Mischnick, Petra (2011). "Learning Chemistry—the Agnes-Pockels-Student-Laboratory at the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany". Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. 400 (6): 1533–1535. doi:10.1007/s00216-011-4914-6. PMID 21448601. S2CID 206906466.