Of German descent, Ostwald was born and raised in Riga in the Russian republic of Latvia. He studied chemistry and physics in Estonia, another Russian state, and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Dorpat in 1878. Interested in research on thermochemistry performed by Danish chemist Hans Peter Jorgen Julius Thomsen (1826-1909), Ostwald based his doctoral thesis on the physical properties of chemical substances. Ostwald's interest and research in this scientific area established him as the one of the founders of modern physical chemistry, the branch of science that investigates chemical changes by observing changes in physical properties.

In 1881, a year after his marriage to Helene von Reyher, Ostwald won the post of chemistry professor at the Riga Polytechnic Institute. During his years at Riga, he studied the chemical reaction rates of acids and the concept of chemical affinity, or the attraction between substances. He also became acquainted...