Jacobus Henricus van’t Hoff (1852-1911)

Awarded the Prize “in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the laws of chemical dynamics osmotic pressure in solutions.”

Dutch theoretical chemist. Van’t Hoff was born at Rotterdam on August 30, 1852. He studied at Delft Polytechnic the University of Leiden before going abroad to work in Bonn Paris. He obtained his doctor’s degree in Utrecht in 1874. In 1876 he became Lecturer at the Veterinary College at Utrecht, two years later he was appointed to the Amsterdam Chair of Chemistry where he remained until moving to the University of Berlin in 1896. Van’t Hoff died on March 1, 1911 at Steglitz near Berlin.