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

More info

• Watch the inauguration on Lithuanian news programme Infostudija
  
• View the list of inaugurated EPS Historic Sites