Svedberg,Theodor

Svedberg s primary focus as a physical chemist was the field of colloid chemistry. Colloids are mixtures of very small particles that when dispersed in solvents are not dissolved, but are held in suspension by various actions of the solvent. Svedberg and his collaborators studied the interaction of colloid suspensions with light and their sedimentation processes. These studies showed that the gas laws could be applied to colloidal systems. Svedberg s Ph.D. thesis on the diffusion of platinum colloidal particles elicited a response from Albert Einstein, since it supported Einstein s theory concerning the Brownian motions of colloidal particles. 

In the early days of modern biochemical studies, the overall structure of proteins was not well understood. There were two major schools of thought. One theory posited that proteins are agglomerations of small molecules (Svedberg s theory, consistent with his colloid stndies), and the second theory was that proteins are very large molecules. In 1921 Edwin Cohn 

Swedish chemist Theodor Svedberg, recipient of the 1926 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work on disperse systems.  

Brownian motion random motion of small particles, such as dust or smoke particles, suspended in a gas or liquid is caused by collisions of the particle with gas or solvent molecules, which transfer momentum to the particle and cause it to move 

DNA deoxyribonucleic acid—the natural polymer that stores genetic information in the nucleus of a cell 

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Svedberg, Theodor. (1884-1971). A Swedish chemist who won the Nobel Prize in 1926. Authorof Die Methoden zur Herstellung Kolloider Losungen anorganischer Stoffe. His work included research in colloidal chemistry, molecular size determination, and methods of electrophoresis, as well as the development of the ultracentrifuge for separation of colloidal particles in solution. His education was in Sweden with later work done at the University of Wisconsin before returning to Uppsalla. 

Ostwald s reluctance to accept the chemical atom as an entity would surely have yielded to the overwhelming evidence provided by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Although Ostwald did not hve to see it, this technique provides such clear evidence of the reality of simple atoms that even he would have been convinced, see also Avogadro, Amedeo Berthol-let, Claude-Louis Berzehus, JonsJaKob Boyle, Robert Cannizzaro, Stanislao Dalton, John Einstein, Albert Gay-Lussac, Joseph-Louis Lavoisier, Antoine Ostwald, Eriedrich Wilhelm Svedberg, Theodor Molecules. 

AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission p. 192 Cutaway of the ITER tokamak device, photograph. Photo Researchers, Inc. Reproduced by permission p. 193 Svedberg, Theodor, portrait. The Library of Congress p. 195 Synge, Richard... 

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