Peter Joseph Wilhelm Debye, 1884-1966

Abstract

Petrus Josephus Wilhelmus Debije (Peter Debye) was bom on 24 March 1884 at Maastricht in the Limburg province of the Netherlands, a town bearing witness to much in the history and culture of at least three of Europe’s present national groups. Some other notable physical scientists who share the same birthday are Georg Bauer Agricola (O.S. 1494: De re metallica), Joseph Priestley (1733), Josef Stefan (1835), and Adolf Butenandt (1903), another Nobel prizewinner in Chemistry. Debye died at Ithaca, the city where Cornell University is located in upper New York State, on 2 November 1966. In the three years that have since elapsed, a number of brief obituary notices have appeared: these and an earlier article by the writer have been used in preparing the following account. The sequence is essentially chronological with the subdivisions indicating Debye’s academic location. Early years The burgomaster of Maastricht has made available a genealogy which is essentially complete to the fourth generation. One of the eight great-greatgrandfathers is given as Joannes Debeij, born in 1752, the great-grandfather (1783-1854) being Pieter Eoduryk Debije. The whole family tree is firmly planted in Maastricht: three of the scientist’s grandparents were born in and died at Maastricht, as did his parents. They were all also Roman Catholics. His parents, Joannes Wilhelmus Debije (1859-1937) and Maria Anna Barbara Ruemkens (1859-1940) were married on 23 May 1883, his father’s twenty-fourth birthday. Records describe his father as a smith or foreman (smid: Werkmeister) in a metal-ware manufacturer’s (J. G. Lambriex) at Maastricht which made items (including tinned-ware) for general use, from gates to kettles: he was well respected by his fellow-workmen and by the other citizens of Maastricht.