Osmotic investigations

by W. Pfeffer

, of the classic monograph on the discovery of the ubiquitous phenomenon of osmosis — the movement of water across living cell membranes in the presence of a solute concentration gradient across the membrane. Pfeffer was the first scientist to measure quantitatively the magnitude of this osmotic pressure. Subsequently, based on Pfeffer's work, van't Hoff presented his famous equation for osmotic pressure that led to his eventual Nobel prize in Chemistry. It is a seminal work in biology and physiology.