Peter Waage (29 June 1833 – 13 January 1900) was a Norwegian chemist and professor of chemistry at the University of Kristiania. Along with his brother-in-law
Cato Maximilian Guldberg
Cato Maximilian Guldberg (11 August 1836 – 14 January 1902) was a Norwegian mathematician and chemist. Guldberg is best known as a pioneer in physical chemistry.
Background
Guldberg was born in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway. He was the el ...
, he co-discovered and developed the
law of mass action
In chemistry, the law of mass action is the proposition that the rate of the chemical reaction is directly proportional to the product of the activities or concentrations of the reactants. It explains and predicts behaviors of solutions in dy ...
between 1864 and 1879.
Biography
He grew up on the island of
Hidra in
Vest-Agder
Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway up until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total population of Norway. ...
, Norway. He was the son of Peder Pedersen Waage (1796–1872) and Regine Lovise Wathne (1802–72). He attended the
Bergen Cathedral School
Bergen Cathedral School ( Norwegian: ''Bergen Katedralskole'', Latin: ''Schola Cathedralis Bergensis'', formerly known as Bergens lærdeskole and Bergen latinskole and colloquially known as Katten) is an upper secondary school in Bergen, Norway. Lo ...
and studied chemistry and mineralogy at the
University of Kristiania (now University of Oslo) under
Adolph Strecker. In 1858, he received the Crown Prince's gold medal (''Kronprinsens gullmedalje'') for work on the development of a theory of oxygen-containing acid radicals. He became a
cand.real. in 1859. He subsequently traveled to
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
, where he studied for two years including time spent with
Robert Bunsen in
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...
.
In 1861, Waage was made an associate professor and in 1866 he was appointed professor of chemistry at the University of Kristiania. He remained a professor at the University over 30 years. He was also chairman of the
Norwegian Polytechnic Society The Polytechnic Society ( no, Polyteknisk Forening) is a Norwegian member network that inspires a science-based and sustainable development, through technology and interdisciplinary partnerships. It was founded in 1852 in Christiania (now: Oslo). T ...
from 1868 to 1869, and the first chairman of the Norwegian branch of the
YMCA
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...
when it was established in 1880.
Personal life
He was married twice. In 1862, he married Johanne Christiane Tandberg Riddervold (1838- 1869), daughter of Hans Riddervold (1795-1876) and Anne Marie Bull (1804-70). Following the death of his first wife, he was married in 1870 with Mathilde Sofie Guldberg (1845-1907), sister of Cato Guldberg.
References
Other sources
*Bjørn Pedersen (2007
Peter Waage kjemiprofessoren fra HidraUniversity of Oslo School Laboratory - Chemistry)
Publications
*
* - English translation of Waage and Guldberg's 1864 paper (above)
Related reading
*Peter Østrøm
''Guldberg and Waage on the Influence of Temperature on the Rates of Chemical Reactions''(Centaurus. Volume 28, Issue 3. Pages 277–287. October 1985)
*Robin E. Ferner and Jeffrey K. Aronso
Cato Guldberg and Peter Waage, the history of the Law of Mass Action, and its relevance to clinical pharmacology(Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2016 Jan; 81(1): 52–55)
1833 births
1900 deaths
People from Vest-Agder
People from Flekkefjord
People educated at the Bergen Cathedral School
University of Oslo alumni
University of Oslo faculty
Norwegian chemists
Norwegian educators
Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal
YMCA leaders
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