Merle Randall (January 29, 1888 – March 17, 1950) was an American physical chemist famous for his work with

Gilbert N. Lewis Gilbert Newton Lewis (October 23 or October 25, 1875 – March 23, 1946) was an American physical chemist and a dean of the college of chemistry at University of California, Berkeley. Lewis was best known for his discovery of the covalent bon ...

, over a period of 25 years, in measuring reaction heat of chemical compounds and determining their corresponding free energy. Together, their 1923 textbook ''"Thermodynamics and the Free Energy of Chemical Substances"'' became a classic work in the field of

chemical thermodynamics Chemical thermodynamics is the study of the interrelation of heat and work with chemical reactions or with physical changes of state within the confines of the laws of thermodynamics. Chemical thermodynamics involves not only laboratory measure ...

. In 1932, Merle Randall authored two scientific papers with Mikkel Frandsen: ''"The

Standard Electrode Potential In electrochemistry, standard electrode potential E^\ominus, or E^\ominus_, is the electrode potential (a measure of the reducing power of any element or compound) which the IUPAC "Gold Book" defines as ''"the value of the standard emf ( electrom ...

of Iron and the

Activity Coefficient In thermodynamics, an activity coefficient is a factor used to account for deviation of a mixture of chemical substances from ideal behaviour. In an ideal mixture, the microscopic interactions between each pair of chemical species are the same ( ...

of Ferrous Chloride,"'' and ''"Determination of the Free Energy of Ferrous Hydroxide from Measurements of

Electromotive Force In electromagnetism and electronics, electromotive force (also electromotance, abbreviated emf, denoted \mathcal) is an energy transfer to an electric circuit per unit of electric charge, measured in volts. Devices called electrical ''transducer ...

."''

Education

Randall completed his Ph.D. at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

in 1912 with a dissertation on ''"Studies in Free Energy"''.Randall, Merle (1912). ''Studies in Free Energy''. Ph.D. Thesis/dissertation — Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Based on work by J. Willard Gibbs, it was known that chemical reactions proceeded to an equilibrium determined by the free energy of the substances taking part. Using this theory, Gilbert Lewis spent 25 years determining free energies of various substances. In 1923, he and Randall published the results of this study and formalizing chemical thermodynamics. According to the Belgian thermodynamicist

Ilya Prigogine Viscount Ilya Romanovich Prigogine (; ; 28 May 2003) was a Belgian physical chemist of Russian-Jewish origin, noted for his work on dissipative structures, complex systems, and irreversibility. Prigogine's work most notably earned him the 19 ...

, their influential 1923 textbook led to the replacement of the term "

affinity Affinity may refer to: Commerce, finance and law * Affinity (law), kinship by marriage * Affinity analysis, a market research and business management technique * Affinity Credit Union, a Saskatchewan-based credit union * Affinity Equity Pa ...

" by the term " free energy" in much of the English-speaking world.

Education

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References

Further reading