Agnes Pockels | |
---|---|
Born | |
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.