Black and white photograph of Jacobus Henricus van’t Hoff (1852-1911) and Wilhelm Ostwald (1853-1932) in a laboratory.

Ostwald and van't Hoff are considered to be among the founding fathers of the field of physical chemistry. Van't Hoff, a Dutch chemist, received in 1901 the first Nobel prize in Chemistry “in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions.” Ostwald was a German chemist and philosopher who, in 1909, received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on catalysis and investigations of the fundamental principles governing chemical equilibria and rates of reaction. When he retired in 1906, Ostwald studied art, philosophy, and politics.