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Biography Of Jacobus Henricus Van 't Hoff

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Jacobus Henricus van’t Hoff, a Dutch physical and organic chemist, was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands on August 30, 1852. Out of a family of seven children Jacobus was the third child. As a student of a private school, he was interested in nature, science, and mathematics.
In 1869 he attended Delft Polytechnic Institute, and thus received his technology degree two years later. Desiring not to be a technology professor, van’t Hoff decided to focus his study on chemistry and pursue a scientific career. Against his father’s wishes, van’t Hoff he enrolled at University of Leiden to study chemistry. From the Netherlands he journeyed to Bonn, Germany to work with A.F. Kekule, and then to Paris for further study. After studying in Leiden, Netherlands and working with A.F. Kekule in Bonn, Germany, van’t Hoff returned to Holland, Netherland in 1874 to obtain his Doctors Degree under Eduard Mulder at the University of Utrecht.
In 1876 van’t Hoff was the Veterinary Professor at the Veterinary College at Utrecht University. After one year of being a Veterinary professor at the University of Amsterdam, he was appointed lecturer in theoretical and physical chemistry. He was the University of Amsterdam their Professor of Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology. While at the University of Amsterdam he conducted the studies of reaction rates, chemical equilibrium, chemical affinity, and osmotic pressures that helped found the discipline of physical chemistry. He held this position

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