Svante Arrhenius
1859–1927, Vik, near Uppsala, Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden
Swedish physical chemist known for electrolytic dissociation theory, the Arrhenius equation, and a quantitative account of temperature's effect on reaction rates. He received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Svante Arrhenius was born in Vik, Sweden, studied at Uppsala, and defended a 1884 dissertation on the galvanic conductivity of electrolytes. It proposed that electrolytes in solution dissociate into ions; the idea was initially doubted but became foundational in physical chemistry. In studying how temperature affects reaction rates, he developed the relation now called the Arrhenius equation, in which activation energy governs the rate's temperature dependence.
In 1903 Arrhenius received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his electrolytic dissociation theory. He worked at Swedish scientific institutions, including Stockholm University, and from 1905 directed the Nobel Institute for Physical Chemistry. Beyond chemistry, he studied cosmic physics and early questions about how atmospheric carbon dioxide could affect climate temperature; his climate work should be understood in its historical scientific context.
Nobel-winning work
Arrhenius received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Chemistry 'in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered to the advancement of chemistry by his electrolytic theory of dissociation'. In his 1884 thesis and 1887 paper he proposed that electrolytes dissociate into ions in solution even without current — explaining colligative properties and enabling quantitative theories of conductivity, acids and bases.
Workplaces: Nobel Institute for Physical Chemistry, Stockholm, Uppsala University
Sweden