The discoveries of the outstanding scientist Svante Arrhenius became the basis of modern physical chemistry. The name of this researcher is primarily associated with the theory of electrolytic dissociation, but this diversified person was also engaged in other issues. Thanks to him, the capital of Sweden at the end of the XIX century. revived its fame as a major center for chemical science.
Childhood and student years
The Swedish scientist was born on February 19, 1859 in the family of a surveyor near the ancient city of Uppsala. A year later, Gustav Arrhenius and Carolina Thunberg also had a daughter, Sigrid. Svante's father graduated from Uppsala University, and the boy's uncle was a famous botanist whose scientific work had a great influence on Swedish agriculture. Gustav Arrhenius dreamed of giving his son a higher education. Therefore, in the early 1860s, when the financial situation of the family improved, he moved with his children to Uppsala.
Svante began to read very early, and at the age of 6 he began to help his father make treasury calculations. Two years later, he entered the 2nd grade of a private school. The boy was considered a very gifted child. Soon his father transferred him to a gymnasium, where he began with great interest to study mathematics and physics. At the age of 17, S. Arrhenius passed the final exams and entered the University of Uppsala, within whose walls the famous chemist Berzelius studied. Of the specialties available at the educational institution, the young man chose physics.
After 2 years, Svante Arrhenius received a bachelor's degree, after which he continued to study natural sciences for three years. In 1881 he received a university diploma. Over the years of study, the young man perfectly mastered the English, German and French languages, studied mathematics well and was free to navigate the modern problems of chemistry and physics. He was impatient to begin independent scientific work, but this was impossible within the walls of the alma mater.
Scientific activity
In 1881, S. Arrhenius left his hometown and went to the capital of Sweden - Stockholm. There he was offered to work in the laboratory of the Physics Institute of the Royal Academy of Sciences under the guidance of Professor Edlund. A year later, Arrhenius was allowed to do independent research on the electrical conductivity of electrolyte solutions.
After 3 years, he defended a doctoral dissertation at the University of Uppsala on the topic “Studies of the Electroplating Conductivity of Electrolytes. However, his work was met with skepticism, and he was denied the post of assistant professor at this educational institution, since the leadership did not want to compromise himself by accepting the author of "crazy ideas." The path to recognition in the biography of Svante Augustus Arrhenius was a long and difficult one. One of the opponents of his theory was D.I. Mendeleev.
Despite criticism, he continued his research work. S. Arrhenius sent out copies of his dissertation to several eminent scientists at that time. From some of them he received a very good assessment of his work, and the German chemist W. Ostwald invited him to work at the University of Riga. Favorable reviews of the luminaries of science gave rise to a scholarship from the Swedish Academy of Sciences, due to which S. Arrhenius went on a business trip abroad. He was able to work in the laboratories of Van Hoff, Kohlrausch, Ostwald, Boltzmann.
In 1887, he finally formulated the theory of electrolytic dissociation. In 1891, Arrhenius returned to Stockholm and became a professor of physics at the Royal Institute of Technology. After 4 years, he received the title of professor at Stockholm University, and since 1899, the scientist became the rector of this educational institution.
Teaching in the biography of Svante Arrhenius occupies an important place. However, it took a lot of time and effort, and in 1905 he resigned as rector in order to devote his life to research. Thanks to the patronage of the king of Sweden, funds were allocated from the Nobel Foundation for the construction of the Physicochemical Institute in Stockholm, whose director Arrhenius remained until the end of his life. His apartment with a huge library was also located here.
Personal life
With his future wife, Sophia Rudbeck, Svante Augustus Arrhenius met when he was 33 years old. She worked as an assistant at the Physics Institute and helped the scientist daily. In 1894, a young couple married, and they had a son, but after 2 years they broke up. Then the scientist married Maria Johansson. His eldest son subsequently became a specialist in agricultural chemistry.
As contemporaries note, S. Arrhenius was a loving husband, father and grandfather. His house was visited by many friends from different countries. In his free time, he read fiction and played the piano.
Svante Arrhenius was naturally a strong, cheerful and healthy person. But as a result of constant overwork he had a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 66 years. On October 2, 1927, a scientist died in Stockholm from a serious illness. The body of S. Arrhenius was buried in Uppsala.
Scientific works and publications
Peru of this scientist owns more than 200 articles, books and brochures. The most famous and significant of them are:
"Theory of chemistry";
“Chemistry and modern life”;
"Problems of physical and space chemistry";
"The modern theory of the composition of electrolytic solutions";
"Quantitative laws in biological chemistry" and others.
On the pages of his works, Svante Arrhenius tried to arouse interest in chemistry among the general masses, propagandized the protection of natural resources. The rich epistolary heritage of the scientist, which exceeds one thousand letters, has also been preserved. They are stored in the library of the Swedish Academy of Sciences.
The idea of electrolytic dissociation
The theory of Svante Arrhenius was simple: electrolyte substances, when dissolved, decompose (or dissociate) into positively or negatively charged ions. Now every schoolchild knows this, but at that time the atomistic concept prevailed in physics and chemistry. The statement of S. Arrhenius was so breakthrough that many scientists refused to recognize it.
According to his research, in the interaction of acid with alkali, the main product of the chemical reaction was water, not salt. It also ran counter to conventional wisdom. It took Svanta Arrhenius more than 10 years for these ideas to be accepted by the scientific community.
The scientist's conclusions that the properties of acids are due to hydrogen ions, on which the electrical conductivity of solutions depend, had a huge impact on the further development of general chemical theories and attracted the attention of researchers to the relationship of electrical and chemical phenomena. S. Arrhenius, along with Van Hoff, laid the foundations for the development of chemical kinetics.
Interesting Facts
Svante Arrhenius, in addition to developments in chemistry, was interested in other areas of science: the nature of ball lightning, the effect of solar radiation on the Earth’s atmosphere, the production of antitoxins, an explanation of the ice ages, aurora borealis; the study of volcanic activity and evolutionary astrophysics, digestion processes in animals.
He expressed the original idea of transferring living organisms from one planet to another using the power of light pressure. In 1907, the scientist published the book Immunochemistry, and his theory of electrolytic dissociation laid the foundation for the study of physiological processes at the cellular and molecular level.
Svante Arrhenius took part in a polar expedition in 1896. He was among those who met the legendary schooner Fram under the direction of Nansen. The ship was returning from a three-year voyage in the Arctic ice.
On the instructions of the Swedish government, he also studied the possibility of the technical use of waterfalls to generate electricity.
Awards and titles
S. Arrhenius is the first Swedish chemist to receive the Nobel Prize. In 1901, he became a member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences. After many years, membership in academies was given to him in absentia in such centers of world science as Amsterdam, London, Paris, Göttingen, Madrid, Rome, Petrograd, Brussels, Washington, Boston and others.
Svante Arrhenius became an honorary doctor of the following sciences:
Philosophy (Cambridge, Oxford, Leipzig, Paris);
medicine (Groningen, Heidelberg).
Along with D. I. Mendeleev, he was awarded the Faraday Medal from the British Chemical Society, as well as the Davy Medal from the Royal Society of London.