The inventor of Mayer's reagent and one of the founders of thermodynamics, Julius von Mayer was the first to enunciate what phrase, known as the first law of thermodynamics?
Mayer's reagent Mayer's reagent is an alkaloidal precipitating reagent used for the detection of alkaloids in natural products. Mayer’s reagent is freshly prepared by dissolving a mixture of mercuric chloride (1.36 g) and of potassium iodide (5.00 g) in water (100.0 ml). Most alkaloids are precipitated from neutral or slightly acidic solution by Mayer’s reagent (potassiomercuric iodide solution) to give a cream coloured precipitate. This test was invented by the German Chemist, Julius Robert Von Mayer (1814–1878).
Widom insertion method The Widom insertion method is a statistical thermodynamic approach to the calculation of material and mixture properties. It is named for Benjamin Widom, who derived it in 1963. In general, there are two theoretical approaches to determining the statistical mechanical properties of materials. The first is the direct calculation of the overall partition function of the system, which directly yields the system free energy. The second approach, known as the Widom Insertion method, instead derives from calculations centering on one molecule. The Widom insertion method directly yields the chemical potential of one component rather than the system free energy. This approach is most widely applied in molecular computer simulations but has also been applied in the development of analytical statistical mechanical models.