... every colleague who is now engaged on surface layer or film research will recognize that the foundation for the quantitative method in this field... had been laid by observations fifty years ago. --- W. Ostwald, Koll. Zeit. 58: 1 (1932)[from Giles and Forrester [ci1971cg]].

Ostwald was refering to the work of Pockels. In 1881, she observed the streaming of currents when salts were put into solution and, by attaching a float to a balance, measured the increase in surface tension. ... For ten years she went on studying the properties of surfactants and surface tension of liquid solutions ... in her own home. She sent her results to the professor of physics of the University of Goettingen who seemed not to appreciate them. Then when Lord Rayleigh began to publish on this subject, she wrote to him about her work. The letter was written in German. Rayleigh found it so remarkable he asked his wife to translate it into English and sent it to be published in Nature. This Letter was published March 12, 1891 with the following introductory paragraph written by Lord Rayleigh:

I shall be obliged if you can find space for the accompanying translation of an interesting letter which I have received from a German lady, who with very homely appliances has arrived at valuable results respecting the behaviour 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, if they do not fully answer, many important questions. I hope soon to find opportunity for repeating some of Miss Pockels' experiments.

"The surface balance technique Pockels developed became useful in physical chemistry for determining the size and shape of organic molecules at a time when X-ray diffraction was not yet available. Her surface film balance technique is the basis for the method later developed by Langmuir and often referred to as a Langmuir trough. This technique is still used by surface chemists. "

"Pockels's description of how she introduced water-insoluble compounds to the water surface by dissolving them in an organic solvent, applying drops of the solution, and then allowing the solvent to evaporate is now the standard technique used. Clean surfaces are a major problem for surface experimentation... The technique she developed for ensuring a clean surface has become standard procedure."

"Observations of the so-called Pockel's point, the minimum area occupied by a monomolecular surface film, about 20 angstroms."

Publications

"Surface Tension," Nature 43: 437 (1891).

This is the first of her many publications. She published over a forty year period - until 1931; see Derrick [pc 1982md] for a list of her publications.

Laura Leonard Prize 1931, with Henri Devaux - for qualitative investigation of the properties of surface layers and surface films.

Honorary Doctorate, Carolina-Wilhelmina University, Brunswick, Germany 1932.

Pockels remained at home and, besides doing physics experiments, took care of the house and her parents.

Municipal High School for Girls, Brunswick, Germany

Regarding a university education, Pockels wrote:

(while in high school), I had already developed a passionate interest in the natural sciences, especially in physics, and would have liked to become a student, but at that time women were not accepted for higher education and later on, when they started to be accepted, my parents nevertheless asked me not to do so. [ci1971cg]

References

"Agnes Pockels' researches, developed almost entirely independently, are meritorious by any standard. They show a clarity of thought and observation, and strictness of scientific approach remarkable for a girl of her years who had no formal training. When examined however against the background of her life they become truly astonishing.

"Pockels' family lived for many years in the malaria infected region of North Italy while her father served in the Austrian army. As a result of this, the entire family suffered adverse health even after returning to Brunswick in 1871. Pockels took on the role of household manager and nurse as her parents' health deteriorated. Her diary illustrates the difficulties she faced in trying to maintain her own health, the health of her parents and continue her scientific research at the same time.

"Pockels' parents refused to allow her to proceed to higher education so she found other routes to gain scientific knowledge. ... and wrote in her diary:

I attempted to continue my education by my own devices, first of all by the use of a small text book by Pouillet-Müller and since 1883 by means of book provided by my brother, Friedrich Pockels, who is three years younger than I and eventually became a professor of physics, but who at that time was a student at Göttingen.   However, this type of training did not take me far in respect of the mathematical approach to physics, so that I much regret to have but little knowledge of theoretical matters. "

Field Editor: Professor Gary A. Williams