SVANTE AUGUST ARRHENIUS: BIOGRAPHY, THEORIES, CONTRIBUTIONS, WORKS - ARTE - 2025

Svante August Arrhenius (1859-1927) was a Swedish physicist and chemist known worldwide for his work in the area of ​​electrolyte dissociation and other theories that made him a world leader in scientific research.

He was the first Swede to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, a writer of scientific texts and recognized as the father of physics-chemistry; he exerted university teaching and published hypotheses on the origin of life and the formation of stars and comets.

Public Domain da vor dem 1. Jan. 1923 veröffentlicht

Experts say Arrhenius's experiments were ahead of their time. An example of this was his research on the causative agents of global warming of the planet and his recommendations to avoid this serious problem that currently affects life on Earth.

Biography

Childhood and studies

Svante August Arrhenius was born on February 19, 1859 on a rustic farm located in Vik, Sweden. His father was Gustav Arrhenius and his mother Carolina Christina Thunberg.

From a very young age he was in contact with the academic world, since his uncle Johann Arrhenius was a professor of botany and later rector of the School of Agriculture in Ultuna, while his father worked as a surveyor at the University of Uppsala.

In order to improve their economic situation, the family moved to Uppsala in 1860, just one year after the birth of little Svante, who proved to be a prodigy from a very young age. It is stated that by the age of three he was already reading by himself and solving simple mathematical operations.

Arrhenius studied at the Uppsala Cathedral School, a historically prestigious campus founded in 1246, from which he graduated in 1876 with excellent grades.

At the age of 17, he entered the University of Uppsala where he studied mathematics, physics and chemistry. Five years later he moved to Stockholm to work under Professor Erick Edlund (1819-1888) at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Arrhenius initially assisted Edlund in research, but soon began work on his own doctoral thesis Investigations on the Galvanic Conductivity of Electrolytes, which he presented in 1884 at the University of Uppsala.

This research revolved around the dissolution of electrolytes in aqueous solutions and their ability to generate positive and negative ions that conduct electricity. Unfortunately the theory was described as erroneous, so the research was approved with a minimal score and objected by his colleagues and teachers.

New experiences

This rejection by the scientific community did not stop Arrhenius, who sent copies of his thesis to renowned scientists such as Rudolf Clausius (1822-1888) Julios Lothar Meyer (1830-1895) Wilhem Ostwald (1853-1932) and Jacobus Henricus van ´t Hoff. (1852-1811).

Arrhenius continued to train and learn from his colleagues. He received a scholarship from the Academy of Sciences that allowed him to travel and work in laboratories of leading researchers in places like Riga, Graz, Amsterdam, and Leipzig.

He began his activity as a teacher in 1891, teaching Physics classes at the University of Stockholm. Six years later, he was appointed rector of this campus of higher education.

Theories

Electrolytic Dissociation Theory

During his time as a university professor, Arrhenius continued to work on research on the aqueous solutions discussed in his doctoral thesis. This new review of his data and experiments served as the basis for presenting his Theory of Electrolytic Dissociation in 1889.

Arrhenius claimed that an electrolyte was any substance that, when dissolved in an aqueous solution, was capable of conducting an electric current.

After their dissolution, these electrolytes dissociated generating a positive and a negative charge, which he called ions. The positive part of these ions was called a cation and the negative anion.

He explained that the conductivity of a solution depends on the amount of concentrated ions in the aqueous solution.

The solutions in which these electrolytes were ionized were classified as acids or bases, depending on the type of negative or positive charge they formed.

These results made it possible to interpret the behavior of acids and bases that were known until then and gave an explanation to one of the most important properties of water: its ability to dissolve substances.

This research earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1903, which enshrined him among his national and foreign peers.

Two years after receiving this important award, he assumed the leadership of the recently inaugurated Nobel Institute for Physical Chemistry, a position he held until his retirement in 1927.

Arrhenius equation

Arrhenius proposed in 1889 a mathematical formula to check the dependence between temperature and the rate of a chemical reaction.

A similar study had been initiated in 1884 by the scientist van't Hoff, but it was Arrhenius who added a physical justification and the interpretation of the equation, offering a more practical approach to this scientific contribution.

An example of this study can be observed in everyday life, when food is stored in a refrigerator, where low temperatures allow the chemical reaction that causes its deterioration to be slower and therefore it is suitable for consumption for a longer time.

The Arrhenius equation can be applied to homogeneous gaseous reactions, in solution, and to heterogeneous processes.

Arrhenius and climate change

More than a hundred years ago, when global warming was not a matter of debate and concern, Arrhenius was already beginning to raise it by offering forecasts about the future of life on the planet.

In 1895 he devoted himself to studying the link between the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO ₂) in the atmosphere and the formation of glaciers.

He concluded that a 50% reduction in (CO ₂) could mean a 4 or 5 ° C drop in the planet's temperature, which could generate massive cooling, similar to that of the glacial periods through which the earth has passed.

On the other hand, if these CO ₂ levels were to increase by 50%, a reverse result would occur, a temperature increase of between 4 or 5 ° C that would cause abnormal warming, with devastating consequences for the Earth's climate.

Arrhenius also determined that fossil fuels and the incessant industrial activity of the human being would be the main causes of this increase in the concentration of atmospheric CO ₂.

His calculations predicted a proven effect on the natural balance of our planet, making Arrhenius the first man to conduct formal research on this subject.

The origin of life and other contributions

The subjects of his interest were very diverse. He offered contributions in the area of ​​cosmology with a theory about the origin of comets that attributed the pressure of solar radiation to their formation; in addition to a theory on the evolution of the stars.

The study about the origin of life was not overlooked by this scientist, who in his Theory of Panspermia stated that the germ of life is scattered throughout the universe and that it only needs to have the necessary conditions to develop.

A very modern theory if one takes into account that scientists are currently studying the presence of interplanetary material in meteorites fallen on earth and the possibility that these have served as a vehicle for the first spark of life on the planet.

Arrhenius received during his life multiple job offers from other countries, however he always preferred to work in Sweden. The period in which he worked at the University of California, United States, and which resulted in his book Immunochemistry (1907), can be counted as an exception.

Plays

Arrhenius also excelled as a prolific writer, publishing scholarly works and speeches.

Some texts were written exclusively for the in-depth analysis of the study and chemical practice, but he also made several publications of a narrative easy to interpret not only by the academic community but by the general public.

Recognitions

The most prominent accolade awarded to Arrhenius was undoubtedly the 1903 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his Theory of Electrolytic Dissociation, which made him the first Swede to be awarded the honor.

In 1902, the Royal Society of London awarded him the Davy Medal and that same institution named him a Foreign Member in 1911.

That same year he was the first to receive the Willard Gibbs medal awarded by the American Chemical Society.

In 1914 he obtained the Faraday medal awarded by the Institute of Physics of the United Kingdom, in addition to a series of honors and honorary academic degrees offered by about ten distinguished European universities.

In his honor the lunar crater Arrhenius and the crater Arrhenius of Mars were also named.

Personal life

Historians claim that Arrhenius was of great human spirit. In fact, during World War I he struggled to help free and repatriate scientists who had been made prisoners of war.

He married twice, in 1884 to Sofia Rudbeck, his student and assistant with whom he had a son. Twenty-one years after his first marriage, he married María Johansson, having three children.

He worked tirelessly until his death in Stockholm on October 2, 1927 at the age of 68.

References

1. Bernardo Herradon. (2017). Arrhenius, one of the fathers of modern chemistry. Taken from principia.io
2. Elisabeth Crawford. (2015). Svante Arrhenius, Swedish Chemist. Taken from Britannica.com
3. Miguel Barral. (2019). Svante Arrhenius, The man who foresaw climate change. Taken from bbvaopenmind.com
4. Miguel G. Corral (2011) Meteorites were able to detonate the beginning of life. Taken from elmundo.es
5. Svante Arrhenius. Taken from newworldencyclopedia.org
6. Francisco Armijo de Castro. (2012). One hundred years of mineral-medicinal waters. Two Hydrologists: Antoine Lavoisier and Svante Arrhenius. Taken from magazines.ucm.es