A Century of Chemical Dynamics Traced through the Nobel Prizes. 1901: Jacobus van't Hoff

December 2001 marks the centenary of the Nobel Prize. During the 20th century, the Nobel Prize was awarded 13 times, to a total of 22 recipients, for work involving various aspects of chemical dynamics--beginning with Jacobus van't Hoff in 1901, and continuing through Ahmed Zewail in 1999. Examining those prizes provides some interesting insights into the history and the evolution of chemical dynamics. In this essay, the first of a series of articles commemorating the Nobel centennial, the work of the first Nobel Laureate in chemical dynamics, Jacobus van't Hoff (1901), is examined.