Joseph Joshua Weiss (30 August 1905 – 9 April 1972) was a Jewish-Austrian chemist and Professor at the

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

. He was a pioneer in the field of

radiation chemistry Radiation chemistry is a subdivision of nuclear chemistry which studies the chemical effects of ionizing radiation on matter. This is quite different from radiochemistry, as no radioactivity needs to be present in the material which is being chemica ...

and

photochemistry Photochemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the chemical effects of light. Generally, this term is used to describe a chemical reaction caused by absorption of ultraviolet (wavelength from 100 to 400 Nanometre, nm), visible ligh ...

Education and career

Weiss was born in 1905 in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. He had obtained a Dipl.Ing. degree in the

Technische Hochschule A ''Technische Hochschule'' (, plural: ''Technische Hochschulen'', abbreviated ''TH'') is a type of university focusing on engineering sciences in Germany. Previously, it also existed in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands (), and Finland (, ) ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. He entered the Textile Institute at Sorau in 1928 and was the head of the chemistry department there. He left his post two years later to become an assistant to the German chemist

Fritz Haber Fritz Jakob Haber (; 9 December 1868 – 29 January 1934) was a German chemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his invention of the Haber process, a method used in industry to synthesize ammonia from nitrogen gas and hydrog ...

at the

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Elektrochemistry The Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society (FHI) is a science research institute located at the heart of the academic district of Dahlem, in Berlin, Germany. The original Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochem ...

in Berlin. Together they discovered the

Haber–Weiss reaction The Haber–Weiss reaction generates •OH (hydroxyl radicals) from H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) and superoxide (•O2−) catalyzed by iron ions. It was first proposed by Fritz Haber and his student Joseph Joshua Weiss in 1932. This reaction has long ...

. He fled with Haber (who was born Jewish) from Nazi Germany to Cambridge in 1933. He later moved to

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, where he got his PhD in 1935 from Prof Frederick George Donnan.Dan Meisel Chemistry Genealogy
in 1937 he started teaching at the King's College in Durham, which later became

. In the thirties, Weiss published several of his ideas on

electron transfer Electron transfer (ET) occurs when an electron relocates from an atom, ion, or molecule, to another such chemical entity. ET describes the mechanism by which electrons are transferred in redox reactions. Electrochemical processes are ET reactio ...

processes in the mechanisms of thermal and photochemical reactions in solution. In 1956, he was appointed a professor of

Radiation Chemistry Radiation chemistry is a subdivision of nuclear chemistry which studies the chemical effects of ionizing radiation on matter. This is quite different from radiochemistry, as no radioactivity needs to be present in the material which is being chemica ...

Honors and awards

In 1968, he received an honorary degree from

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...

. In 1970 he received the

Marie Curie Medal The Marie Curie-Skłodowska Medal is a Polish annual science awards, science award conferred by the Polish Chemical Society (Polish language, Polish: ''Polskie Towarzystwo Chemiczne'', PTCHem) to scientists working permanently abroad for contribu ...

from the Curie Institute, and officially retired from his chair at Newcastle. In 1972 the Association for Radiation Research established the Weiss Medal, named after him.

Personal life

In 1942, Weiss married Frances Sonia Lawson, whom he would go on to have two sons and a daughter with.

References

External links

Professor J. J. Weiss, 1905-1972
''International Journal of Radiation Biology'', Volume 22, Issue 4 October 1972, pages 311–312. Prof George Scholes.

at the Association for Radiation Research website {{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Joseph Joshua 1905 births 1972 deaths Austrian physical chemists Austrian emigrants to the United Kingdom Academics of Newcastle University Jewish scientists Austrian Jews British people of Austrian-Jewish descent British physical chemists Photochemists TU Wien alumni Alumni of University College London

Education and career

Honors and awards

Personal life

See also

References

External links