Johannes Diderik van der Waals (1837-1923)

Awarded the Prize “for his work on the equation of state for gases liquids.”

Dutch physicist. Van der Waals was born on November 23, 1837 in Leyden. After having finished elementary education at his birthplace he became a schoolteacher. In 1873 he obtained his doctor’s degree from the University of Leiden in 1876 was appointed Professor of Physics at the University of Amsterdam. Van der Waals died in Amsterdam on March 8, 1923.