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Another Canadian Nobel Prize Connection
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It is often overlooked that the 1949 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry has a Canadian connection. William Francis Giauque was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario on May 12, 1895. His parents were United States citizens living in Canada at the time. The family moved to Michigan, but following the death of his father in 1908, the family returned to Niagara Falls where Giauque took his secondary school education in the Niagara Falls Collegiate Institute. Because he planned on becoming an electrical engineer, he sought work in the various power plants at Niagara Falls. Unable to find work in Canada he moved across the border to work with the Hooker Electro-Chemical Company in Niagara Falls, New York. The interesting work he experienced in the chemical plant caused him to decide to become a chemical engineer.
After two years at Hooker he moved to California to complete an undergraduate chemistry degree and obtain his Ph.D. The fundamental scientific work of Professor Gilbert N. Lewis (originator of the "Lewis dot" structures we use in chemistry) and his students had a great influence on Giauque. His interest in fundamental research led him to remain at the University of California to become a professor of chemistry.
Giauque won the Nobel Prize for the study of chemical reactions at very low temperatures. He and his co-workers were able to achieve temperatures considerably below 1o above absolute zero. Giauque is an example of success achieved simply because he pursed his interests.
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