Johannes Diderik van der Waals

Johannes Diderik van der Waals was a Dutch scientist who developed a groundbreaking equation to describe the behavior of gases and liquids. His work explained how molecules attract or repel each other and how this affects the state of matter, especially near phase changes like condensation. Van der Waals' equation improved the understanding of real-world fluids beyond idealized models, helping scientists better predict behaviors such as boiling, condensation, and critical points. His contributions are fundamental in physics and chemistry, providing a more accurate picture of molecular interactions in different states of matter.