Merle Randall (January 29, 1888 – March 17, 1950)[1] was an American physical chemist famous for his work with Gilbert N. Lewis, over a period of 25 years, in measuring reaction heat of chemical compounds and determining their corresponding free energy.
In 1932, Merle Randall authored two scientific papers with Mikkel Frandsen: "The Standard Electrode Potential of Iron and the Activity Coefficient of Ferrous Chloride,"[2] and "Determination of the Free Energy of Ferrous Hydroxide from Measurements of Electromotive Force.
"[3] Randall completed his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1912 with a dissertation on "Studies in Free Energy".
[4] Based on work by J. Willard Gibbs, it was known that chemical reactions proceeded to an equilibrium determined by the free energy of the substances taking part.
Using this theory, Gilbert Lewis spent 25 years determining free energies of various substances.