Author: Andrius Juodagalvis, Lithuanian Physical Society
On 2nd July 2022, Lithuanian enthusiasts of history of physics
gathered in Žeimelis, Lithuania, where the first EPS Historic Site in
the three Baltic states was inaugurated. Having reviewed contributions
of Theodor von Grotthuss (1785-1822), a scientist who lived in the
region in the beginning of the XIX century, the EPS Historic Sites
committee agreed that his laboratory in Gedučiai, near a small town of
Žeimelis, has influenced the development of physics to a comparable
extent as other scientific centres in Europe.
Theodor von
Grotthuss work gained world-wide recognition in 1806, after he published
an article on his theory of electrolysis of water, proposing to base
the electrolysis process interpretation on physical-chemical phenomena.
In his view, the electric field was polarizing molecules in a solution,
and continuous dissociation and recombination of molecules resulted in
the electrolysis effects visible only at the electrodes, where the chain
of pairs was broken. Since 1808 he worked in a laboratory at his
mother's estate in Gedučiai, which is currently a small village close to
Žeimelis in Pakruojis municipality district, Lithuania. Electrolysis
research was supplemented by various studies of interaction of light
with matter, which included phosphorescence and photochemical reactions.
Around 1817 he discovered regularities, that were later called the
Grotthuss-Draper first and second laws of photochemistry. Attempting to
create a unified concept of physical and chemical phenomena based on
charge and molecular constituents, in 1818-1819 Teodor von Grotthuss
concluded that interaction of opposite charges (positive and negative),
depending on conditions, manifests as light, heat, and electricity. The
same publication also proposed that water liquid contains molecules and
their elementary parts even in the absence of an external electric
field. The collective action of molecules that leads to the electric
conductivity of solutions due to proton jumping from one molecule to
another is still called the Grotthuss mechanism.
The EPS Historic
Site sign was placed in a central square of Žeimelis, where the statue
of Teodor von Grotthuss by a sculptor Kęstutis Balčiūnas was erected
earlier this year, in March. The recognition ceremony in Žeimelis was
opened by the chair of the EPS Historic Sites Committee, Karl Grandin.
His speech was translated into Lithuanian by a scientific secretary of
the Lithuanian Physical Society, Andrius Juodagalvis. The chairman of
the EPS selection committee for historic sites congratulated the
participants who witnessed inauguration of the first EPS historic site
in the three Baltic states. He also explained the meaning of distinction
as "a historic site," and highlighted Teodor von Grotthuss'
achievements that contributed towards his recognition by physicists, and
challenged chemists to weigh his influence, since his research topics
are on the borderline between physics and chemistry. Had the Nobel
Prizes been awarded when Grotthuss lived, he might have been awarded
one. Karl Grandin also gifted the local museum with a copy of the last
Theodor von Grotthuss' letter to his colleague in Sweden, Jacob
Berzelius. The president of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, Jūras
Banys cherished that a small town of Žeimelis joined the league of other
famous places in Europe, where the foundations of modern physics were
laid. Other speakers of the official ceremony were the president of the
Grotthuss' Foundation at the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, Aivaras
Kareiva, the initiator of the EPS historic site application and a former
president of the Lithuanian Physical Society, Juozas Vidmantis Vaitkus,
the president of the Lithuanian Physics Teachers' Asociation, Rigonda
Skorulskienė, the dean of the Faculty of Physics at Vilnius University,
Juozas Šulskus, and the mayor of the Pakruojis municipality district
Saulius Margis. At the end of the ceremony, Karl Grandin declared the
EPS historic site in Žeimelis to be officially inaugurated. The entire
ceremony was started and finalized with live saxophone melodies.
The Lithuanian Physical Society
is grateful to the EPS Historic Site committee for recognition of
Theodor von Grotthuss research results, and the Pakruojis district
municipality for providing local support. Theodor von Grotthuss
scientific contributions are described following the EPS historic site
application written by J. V. Vaitkus and A. Kareiva, and an overview
article by B. Jaselskis et al, Bull. Hist. Chem. 32 (2007) 119-128.
Official participants of the EPS Historic Site inauguration in Žeimelis, Pakruojis municipality district, Lithuania.
Photo by A. Skorulskas
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