Julian Gibbs
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Julian Howard Gibbs (June 24, 1924 – February 20, 1983) was an American
physical chemist Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mecha ...
and the fifteenth President of
Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...
. He was a pioneer in developing theoretical models for the
glass transition The glass–liquid transition, or glass transition, is the gradual and Reversible reaction, reversible transition in amorphous solid, amorphous materials (or in amorphous regions within Crystallinity, semicrystalline materials) from a hard and rel ...
. In 1942, he entered
Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...
, but had to serve in the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
for a year in the Pacific during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. In 1946, he married Cora Lee Gethman (1924-2016), daughter of
YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...
officials who graduated
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...
from Smith College with a degree in art history in the same year and later served as a director of
Newport Art Museum The Newport Art Museum, founded in 1912 as the Art Association of Newport, is located at 76 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. The museum operates a gallery in the John N. A. Griswold House, a National Historic Landmark that is one of t ...
. They had a daughter, Judith Gibbs Shaw, and three sons, Jonathan, James and Jeffrey. Gibbs graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Amherst in 1947 and then earned his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in 1949 and 1950 from
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
. After a year of postdoctoral study at
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
in England with a
Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...
, he briefly taught at the
University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...
. Gibbs then worked for eight years at
General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and Arms industry, defence electronics, communications, and engineering. It was originally founded in 1886 as G. Binswanger and Company as an e ...
and
American Viscose Corporation American Viscose Corporation was an American division of the British firm Courtaulds, which manufactured rayon and other synthetic fibres. The company operated from 1910 to 1976 when it was renamed Avtex. Avtex closed in 1990. History Establish ...
before accepting a position at
Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...
in 1960 as associate professor of chemistry. Starting from 1956, he published seminal articles on
glass transition The glass–liquid transition, or glass transition, is the gradual and Reversible reaction, reversible transition in amorphous solid, amorphous materials (or in amorphous regions within Crystallinity, semicrystalline materials) from a hard and rel ...
. Together with Edmund A. DiMarzio, he developed the thermodynamic basis for the glass transition, suggesting a second-order phase transition underlying the observed kinetic slowdown. Gibbs-DiMarzio theory remains influential and continues to be debated and refined. He was named a full professor in 1963 and served as the chairman of the Chemistry Department at Brown from 1964 to 1972. In 1965, Gerold Adam and he explained the dramatic increase in viscosity characteristic in glass-forming liquids at lower temperatures. They posited that molecular motion must become increasingly cooperative during cooling, requiring larger groups of molecules to move simultaneously, thus decreasing the configurational entropy and creating higher energy barriers. The Adam-Gibbs equation connects this entropy to the relaxation time and is now applied well beyond polymer chemistry. In 1967 he won the High Polymer Prize of the
American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...
. He succeeded John William Ward in 1979 as President of Amherst College and served as president for five years until his death in 1983 due to a heart attack. He continued his chemical research while he was president. The Archives and Special Collections at Amherst College holds a collection of his papers.


References


External links


Julian H. Gibbs Papers, Amherst College Archives and Special Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbs, Julian Amherst College alumni 1924 births 1983 deaths Presidents of Amherst College Place of death missing Place of birth missing Brown University faculty Princeton University alumni 20th-century American academics