Avogadro Amedeo is the founder of molecular theory

Avogadro Amedeo is a well-known Italian physicist and chemist. He is the founder of molecular theory. Recognition was received only half a century after his death. In this article you will be presented with a brief biography of the scientist.

Learning

Lorenzo Romano Amedeo Carlo Avogadro was born in Turin (Italy) in 1776. The father of the boy, Filippo, served in the judicial department. In total, the family had eight children (Amedeo - the third). In his youth, Avogadro attended the school of experimental physics and geometry. But at that time the profession was inherited, so he was forced to follow in the footsteps of his father and take up jurisprudence. In 1792, Avogadro entered the University of Turin. At the age of 20, Amedeo already had a doctorate in church jurisprudence. But the young man's interest in physics did not fade away, but only intensified. Five years later he devoted all his free time exclusively to studying it.

Scientific activity

Work in this field began in Avogadro Amedeo with the study of various electrical phenomena. In 1800, interest in this especially increased, because Volta invented the first source of current. Well, all the scientists followed the discussion between Alessandro and Galliano about the nature of electricity. It is understandable that Amedeo decided to realize himself in this sphere.

Works Avogadro, devoted to electricity, went out until 1846. The scientist was actively studying this area. But electricity was not the only area in which Amedeo Avogadro worked. A chemist is his second profession. Thanks to the scientist, a new discipline emerged at the junction of the two sciences. It was called electrochemistry. In this area of work Avogadro touched the works of such famous scientists as Berzelius and Davy.

In 1803 and 1804, Amedeo went to the Turin Academy with his brother Felice. There they presented two scientific works devoted to the theory of electrochemical and electrical phenomena. For this Avogadro was elected a corresponding member of this academy. In the first work, Amedeo explained the behavior of dielectrics and conductors in an electric field, and also considered the phenomenon of their polarization. Later, his ideas were used by other scientists, in particular Ampere.

New work

In 1806, Avogadro Amedeo became a tutor in the Turin lyceum, and three years later he became a teacher of mathematics and physics, but in another educational institution. For this, the scientist had to move to the city of Vercelli. There, Amedeo spent ten years. During this time, Avogadro read a huge amount of literature, making numerous extracts. He did not stop doing this until the end of his life. The total number of statements he composed is 75 volumes of 700 pages each. According to their content, one can see how versatile the interests of the scientist were, and what colossal work he did in his life.

Confirmation of the Gay-Lussac theory

In 1808, one, still not very famous French scientist, was studying the reactions between gases. His name was Gay-Lussac. During the experiments, he found out that the volumes of reacting gases and their derivatives correlated as small whole numbers. In 1811, Avogadro confirmed his assumptions with his essay on "Methods for determining the masses of molecules." In the same work, Amedeo came to yet another important conclusion. It sounded like this: "In the same volume of any gas, there is always the same number of molecules."

The wording of the law

In 1814, Amedeo Avogadro, a real photograph of which is in all encyclopedias in physics, released another "Essay on the mass of molecules." In it, the scientist formulated a law, which was later named after him: "At the same temperatures and pressures, equal volumes of gaseous substances correspond to an equal number of molecules." Amedeo also introduced Avogadro's number. This is the number of molecules in a mole of any substance. And this figure is a constant.

Personal life

Avogadro Amedeo created a family quite late. He was almost forty years old. In 1815 the scientist married Anna Mazzie. The wife was 18 years younger than her husband. She gave birth to Amedeo of eight children. But none of them went in the footsteps of his father.

Teaching

In 1820, Avogadro was appointed professor of the University of Turin at the Department of Higher Physics. The scientist had his own views on the teaching of this subject. At that time, Italian science was at a not very high level of development. Amedeo wanted to fix this and help his homeland to occupy a worthy place in Europe on this indicator. Therefore, the physicist outlined a detailed plan of action. His main idea was to combine scientific activity and teaching.

But because of political and military events in Italy, Amedeo was unable to translate his progressive plan into reality. In 1822 Turin University was closed by the authorities for a whole year because of student unrest. Nevertheless, Avogadro did not stop doing scientific experiments. In 1823, the university resumed its work, and Amedeo returned to the Department of Physics. In 1832 he headed it and worked on this post for another 18 years.

Last years

When Amedeo left the university, he settled himself as a senior inspector of the Control Chamber. Also, Avogadro was a member of several commissions whose activities were connected with statistics. Despite his advanced age, the scientist continued to publish the results of his research. He published his last work in print at the age of 77 years.

Death

Amedeo Avogadro, whose brief biography was presented above, died in 1856. The scientist was buried in Vercelli in a family crypt. A year later Turin University installed a bronze bust of Amedeo in honor of recognition of his services.