SMITS, ANDREAS

(b. Woerden, Netherlands, 14 June 1870; d. Doom, Netherlands, 13 November 1948)

physical chemistry.

Smits first studied chemistry at the University of Utrecht and then entered the University of Giessen, from which he received the Ph.D. magna cum laude (1896) for his dissertation “Untersuchungen mit dem Mikromanometer.” Two years later he was appointed chemist at the Municipal Gasworks in Amsterdam, and in 1901 he became a privatdocent in chemistry at the University of Amsterdam. He subsequently was named professor of general chemistry at the University of Technology at Delft (1906), and in 1907 succeeded Roozeboom as professor of chemistry at Amsterdam. He held this latter post until his retirement in 1940.

During these years, Smits’s scientific research covered three fields. Prior to 1905 he studied the relationship in dilute solutions between the decrease in vapor pressure and the elevation of the boiling point. Also, he determined the so-called van’t Hoff factor i (or ionic coefficient) for different aqueous concentrations of various salts. After 1924 he investigated the possibility of mental intercovertibility—especially of lead into mercury—by various means, using a quartz-lead lamp; sparks or electric arc between lead electrodes: and solar, X, and ultraviolet radiation.

Smits’s major research, however, was in phase theory, especially in three-component systems with critical endpoints where two phases are identical; and in so-called pseudobinary systems. Smits thought that every component of a pseudobinary system actually contains two types of molecules. A pseudobinary system is a one-component system the molecules of which are chemically the same, but nevertheless may be divided into two types differing from one another in respect of “physical” properties, and there exists an equilibrium between the two types. He defended this theory throughout his career and tried to apply it to allotropic forms; the phenomena of passivity, polarization, and overvoltage in metals: electromotive equilibriums: or-tho- and para-hydrogen systems; intensively dried substances: and continuous transitions.

Many of Smite’s investigations (both independent and with his students) are summarized in two books: Die Theorie der Alhtropie (1921) and Die Theorie der Komplexität und der Allotropie (1938).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works. A complete bibliography of Smits’s writing is in Chemisch weekblad, 3 (1906), 582–583; 28 (1931), 561–566: 37 (1940), 435–436: and 45 (1949), 151. His major works include “Untersuchungen mit dem Mikromanometer” (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Giessen, 1896). which appeared in part in Verslagen en mededeelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen, 5 (1897). 292–295; Die Theorie der Altotropie (Leipzig, 1921). with trans. by J. S. Thomas as The Theory of Allotropy (London. 1922); and Die Theorie der Komplexität and der Allotroapie (Berlin, 1938).

II. Secondary Literature, On Smits and his work, see J. M. Bijvoet, “Prof. Dr. A. Smits. 4 October 1906– 4 October 1931,” in Chemisch weekblad, 28 (1931), 555–559: F E. C. Scheffer. “Het 25–jarig hoogleeraarschap van Prof. Dr. A. Smits. Enkele persoonlijke herinnerinyen,” ibid. 28 (1931) 560–561: the unsigned “Professor Dr. A. Smits. 14 Juni 1870–14 Juni 1940,” ibid., 37 (1940), 430–435; and E. H. Buehner, “Andreas Smits 1870–1948,” ibid., 45 , 149–151.

H. A. M. Snelders