Agnes Pockels, 1862-1935 surements on surface films.
Her surface film balance tech-
M. Elizabeth Derrick
Vsldosta State College
Valdosta. GA 31698
Pockels is aname familiar to many surface chemists; how-
ever, most probably do not realize that this is a woman who
did much of her experimental work a t home in her kitchen,
who had difficultv" publishina
* her results, and who, because
of discrimination against women in Germany during her early
vears.
- . did not hold a universitv. degree.- Despite these ad-
versities, she made major contributions to the early work in
surface chemistry. In short reviews of the history of surface
chemistry, her name is always listed along with others such
as Ravleiph. Langmuir, Adam, Harkins, and Rideal. Further
recoghition is given to her in referring to the minimum area
occupied by a monomolecular surface film, about 20A2 per
molecule, as the Pockels' point.
Agnes Pockels made her publishing debut in 1891, some
tens years after she hegan her experimental work. She had
been unsuccessful in having her work recognized in her own
country and hence, with the encouragement of a younger
brother, Friedrich Pockels, a physicist, she wrote to Lord
Rayleigh in England.' The first publication of Agnes Pockels'
work appeared in the letters-to-the-editor column in N a t ~ r e . ~
The orieinal oublication includes an initial note from Lord
FiayleigK expkning the letter which he had received from her.
This note is followed hv a translation of Ames Pockels' letter
to him. In Lord ~ a ~ l e i g hintroductory
's note, he states, "I shall
he obliged if you can find space for the accompanying trans-
lation of an interesting letter which I have received from a
German lady, who with very homely appliances has arrived
a t valuable results respecting the behavior of contaminated
water surfaces. The earlier part of Miss Pockels' letter covers
nearly the same ground as some of my own recent work, and
in the main harmonizes with it. The later sections seem to me
very suggestive, raising, i f they do not fully answer, many
important questions. I hope soon to find opporrunity for re-
oearine some of Miss I'ock~ls'ex~erimenLq." The translation
of ~ ~ nPockels'
i s letter then foliows:
My Lord,-will you kindly excuse my venturing to trouble you
with a German letter on a scientific subject? Having heard of
the fruitfulresearches carried on by you last year on the hither-
to little understood properties of water surfaces, I thought it
might interest you to know of my own observations on the
subject. For various reasons I am not in a position to publish
them in scientific periodicals, and I therefore adopt this means
of communicating to you the most important of them.
After discussing her experimental work the letter ends
with:
-
I thoueht I oueht
" not to withhold from vou these facts which I
have observed, although I am not a professional physicist; and
again begging you to excuse my boldness, I remain, with sincere
respect,
Yours faithfully,
(Signed) Agnes Pockels.
In the body of this letter, Agnes Pockels discusses the de-
velopment of her technique for making quantitative mea-
1030 Journal of Chemical Education
nique is the bnsis for the method later developed by Langmuir
and often referred to as a Langmuir trough. This technique
is.still
- used bv surface chemists: Also described are her results
from numerous experiments using this apparatus, including
her
- - ~ observation
~ - ~~~ ~ of the so-called Pockels' point.
There are only two readily available sources of biographical
information concerning Ms Pockels. The Ostwald paper'
includes a short autohiographical note by Ms Pockels herself.
The Giles and Forrester papel3 includes information and
quotes from the unpublished diary of Ms Pockels and from
a biomaohical
- . article hv her sister-in-law in an obscure Ger-
man journal.
Aenes Pockels was born February 14,1862 in Venice where
her Father, a member of the ~ o ~Austrian a i army, was sta-
tioned. Her brother, Friedrich (Fritz), was born three years
later. In 1871the family moved to Bmnswick in Lower Sax-
ony, and i t was there that Agnes attended school and con-
ducted her experiments during the remainder of her life. She
was educated a t the Municipal High School for Girls where,
in her autohiographical notes', she states she developed an
"enthusiastic interest in the natural sciences, especially
physics." She stresses, however, that women at that time were
not allowed the privilege of studying further. Later in her life,
when women were allowed to attend the university, her par-
ents would not allow it. Fritz did attend the university and
later became a professor of physics. It was through him that
Agnes obtained textbooks, teaching herself such subjects as
differential calculus.
The Pockels family apparently had frequent health prob-
lems. Aenes.
- . as the unmarried and only dauphter, assumed
the management and nursing responsibilitiesin her parents'
home a t an early age and continued to live there throughout
her life. Her sister-in-law states3:
Their studies were often conducted in the kitchen where
Agnes, being the daughter of the household, had to do her
chores and where it was alwavs nice and warm. In this wav. ..
, \ p e r made her firrt ubiervstionr in the field of capillarity.
This is really true and nu jukc or poetic ltrence: what millions
of women see every day without pleasure and are anxious to
clean away, i.e., the greasy washing-up water, encouraged this
girl to make ohservationsand eventually to.. .scientific inves-
tigation.
Ms Pockels hegan her earliest experimental work a t
about the age of 18and had invented the slide trough by the
time she was 20. She was unsuccessful in interesting others in
her work until she wrote to Lord Rayleigh, r e s u l L g in the
previously quoted publication of her letter. This recognition
stimulated her work, and she proceeded to publish thirteen
papers in the period from 1891t o 1918, publishing two later
papers in 1926 and 1933.
In her autobiographical notes in the Ostwald paper1, she
explains the disruption of her publishing in 1918 by the advent
' Ostwald, W.. Koll. Zeit, 58, l(1932).
Rayleigh and Pockels. Nature 43, 437 (1891).
Giles, C.H.and Forrester. S. D., Chemishyand Indust!?', 1971.43
(1971).
of World War I, her brother's death, and her own failing
health. Her brother's university appointment a t Heidelberg
and her recognition by Lord Rayleigh ultimately resulted in
her work being recognized in Germany. Most of her work was
published in German journals.
In her later years Agnes Pockels received well-deserved
recognition for her work. The previously mentioned paper by
Ostwaldl, entitled "Die Arbeiten von Agnes Pockels iiher
Grenzschichten und Filme," is a tribute t o her work on the
occasion of her 70th birthday. In 1931 she was awarded, jointly
with H. Devaux, the Laura Leonard Prize for "Quantitative
Investigation of the Properties of Surface Layers and Surface
Films." In 1932 the Carolina-Wilhemina University of
Brunswick awarded her an honorary doctorate.
Her sister-in-law states3 that "during these latter years,. ..
she led a quiet life as 'Auntie Agnes,' like many other mid-
dle-aged women in Bmnswick. She had many acquaintances,
and two puzzle-solving societies met in her home . . .. She
. ".and keot her thouehts to herself
herself alwavs lived simolv. ~ ~ ~~~~
without sayLg much. The information about cer special sci-
entific knowledge was now onlv noised abroad in whisners."
Agnes Pockels died in 1935 a t the age of 73.
I " .
"Profiles in Chemlsbv" Is a bfwra~hical -~
feature. hlohllahtlna me
COnDlblltiMS 01 d.01inguiEhedchemsLs 'n me mnten ofUmir lives. rhe
1
mlumn s designed lor curriculumenrichment. allowing the secondary
schaal teacher to snnance the vitalily of chemlslry wrlh the sense of
I Scholarship and adventure shared by chemists throughout history. 1
Volume 59 Number 12 December 1982 1031