Théophile De Donder

Théophile De Donder
De Donder at the 1927 Solvay Conference. Appearing in front of De Donder is Paul Dirac.
Born
Théophile Ernest De Donder

(1872-08-19)19 August 1872
Died11 May 1957(1957-05-11) (aged 84)
Alma materUniversité Libre de Bruxelles
Known forBeing the father of irreversible thermodynamics
Chemical affinity
Extent of reaction
De Donder gauge
De Donder method of analysis
De Donder–Weyl theory
AwardsICM Speaker (1920)
Scientific career
FieldsStatistical physics
InstitutionsUniversité Libre de Bruxelles
Academic advisorsHenri Poincaré
Doctoral studentsIlya Prigogine
Léon Van Hove
Théophile Lepage

Théophile Ernest De Donder (French: [ dɔ̃dɛʁ]; 19 August 1872 – 11 May 1957) was a Belgian mathematician, physicist and chemist famous for his work (published in 1923) in developing correlations between the Newtonian concept of chemical affinity and the Gibbsian concept of free energy.