The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1920 was awarded to Walther Nernst "in recognition of his work in thermochemistry".
 

Walther Nernst received his Nobel Prize one year later, in 1921. During the selection process in 1920, the Nobel Committee for Chemistry decided that none of the year's nominations met the criteria as outlined in the will of Alfred Nobel. According to the Nobel Foundation's statutes, the Nobel Prize can in such a case be reserved until the following year, and this statute was then applied. Walther Nernst therefore received his Nobel Prize for 1920 one year later, in 1921.
 

When coal or wood is burnt the carbon and hydrogen which they contain combine with the oxygen in the air. During the combustion of carbon in air no actual work is performed, since the affinity results only in heat or, as we understand it today, in an increase of the motions of the molecules. The most significant advance which chemistry owes to Nernst's thermochemical work might in short be stated by saying that it is now possible to calculate beforehand the conditions under which a given chemical reaction will take place to the extent where a required product will be obtained in sufficient quantities to make the method of production a practical proposition.