Johannes Diderik van der Waals

Johannes Diderik van der Waals was a Dutch theoretical physicist and thermodynamicist famous for his pioneering work on the equation of state for gases and liquids. Van der Waals started his career as a schoolteacher. He became the first physics professor of the University of Amsterdam when in 1877 the old Athenaeum was upgraded to Municipal University. Van der Waals won the 1910 Nobel Prize in physics for his work on the equation of state for gases and liquids.

23 November 1837

Born on the same birth day (23 November): Angelo Sodano • Bruce Hornsby • Francis, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg • Henry Moseley • Jerry Kelly • Josephine D'Angelo • Robert Denmark • Snooki • Victor Jory

Born in the same month (November 1837): Ilia Chavchavadze • James T. Rapier • John Wesley Hyatt • Thomas Playford II • Émile Bayard