Giauque, William Francis (1895–1982)

Canadian-born US physical chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1949 for his work in chemical thermodynamics, in particular the behaviour of matter at extremely low temperatures.

Giauque used statistics to calculate the entropy (state of disorder) of different substances close to absolute zero, using the energy levels of molecules gained from spectroscopy. His research validated the third law of thermodynamics: chemical changes at absolute zero (273.15°C/459.67°F) involve no change of entropy.

He was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario. His academic career, spanning over 50 years, was spent at the University of California. It began when Giauque graduated in chemistry, obtaining his PhD in 1922. He rapidly gained a reputation for hard work and was appointed professor in 1934.