Quizzes
Quick Facts
- Born:
- July 14 [July 26, New Style], 1863, Cēsis, Latvia, Russian Empire
- Died:
- Jan. 24, 1957, Gammertingen, W.Ger. (aged 93)
- Subjects Of Study:
- inversion
Adding us as a Preferred Source tells Google you trust our content, so our articles show up more often in your Google Search, Discover feed, and AI Overviews.
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.
Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Paul Walden
Latvian chemist
Paul Walden (born July 14 [July 26, New Style], 1863, Cēsis, Latvia, Russian Empire—died Jan. 24, 1957, Gammertingen, W.Ger.) was a chemist who discovered the Walden inversion, a reversal of stereochemical configuration that occurs in many reactions of covalent compounds.
Walden went to Germany after the Russian Revolution of 1917 and served as head of the chemistry department of the University of Rostock from 1919 to 1934. He became professor of chemistry at the University of Tübingen in 1947. Walden is also responsible for Walden’s rule, which relates the conductivity and viscosity of nonaqueous solutions.
This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Discover the fascinating events that shaped the world, straight from our editors.
By clicking “Sign Up”, you consent to the Britannica
Privacy Policy
and
Terms of Use.