Marcel Pourbaix was born in 1904, in Myshega (Russia). A brilliant chemist, he performed his most well known research at the University of Brussels, studying corrosion. His biggest achievement is the derivation of potential-PH diagrams, better known as “Pourbaix Diagrams”. Pourbaix Diagrams are thermodynamic charts constructed using the Nernst equation and visualize the relationship between possible phases of a system, bounded by lines representing the reactions that transport between them. They can be read much like a phase diagram.
In 1963, Pourbaix produced "Atlas of Electrochemical Equilibria", which contains [[potential-pH]|Pourbaix_diagram] diagrams for all elements known at the time. Pourbaix and his collaborators began preparing the work in the early 1950s.
Marcel Pourbaix was not only a scientist, but also a skilled pianist. He died September 28, 1998 at the age of 94 in Uccle (Brussels) at his family home.