Background: Ostwald's organizational and international experiences

Ostwald was born at the edge of Europe in Latvia

Organization of international development of physical chemistry since 1887

Member of the International Atomic Weight Commission since 1906

Attempt to found a German Imperial Chemical Institute with Emil Fischer and Walther Nernst in 1906

First German exchange professor with the United States in 1905

Foundation of the "International Association of Chemical Societies" in 1911