This environment influenced Johannes Diderik van der Waals. After initially pursuing a teaching credential, he was accepted for doctoral studies at the University of Leiden under Pieter Rijke. This led, in 1873, to a dissertation that provided a simple, particle based, equation that described the gas–liquid change of state, the origin of a critical temperature, and the concept of corresponding states. The equation is based on two premises, first that fluids are composed of particles with non-zero volumes, and second that at a large enough distance each particle exerts an attractive force on all other particles in its vicinity. These forces were called by Boltzmann van der Waals cohesive forces.