Arrhenius

Svante Arrhenius (1859-1927) left his mark on three fields that have become important in 20th-century science: physical chemistry (through his theory of ionic dissociation), climatology (through his model of the magnitude of the greenhouse effect on global warming), and immunochemistry (through his ideas concerning the chemical reactions of serum therapy). He exerted a strong influence on the selection of laureates for the early Nobel prizes in science and made popular science a new art form with Worlds in the Making; his widely read book on cosmic physics and cosmology. Students of chemistry know him through the Arrhenius equation which describes the temperature dependence of the rate constants of chemical reactions. In his scientific career Arrhenius crossed the boundaries between disciplines, particularly physics and chemistry, as well as those between countries. Starting out in his native Sweden, he moved to the German-speaking scientific world in the 1880s. His theory of electrolytic dissociation formulated in 1887 made him one of the pioneers of the new physical chemistry. Returning to Sweden in the 1890s he used his base as professor of physics at the University of Stockholm, and later director of the Nobel Institute for Physical Chemistry, to build an international network that covered Europe, Russia, and North America. Arrhenius's richly satisfying scientific life, described in colorful detail in Arrhenius: From Ionic Theory to the Greenhouse Effect, throws light on major themes of interest to both scientists and historians of science. Among these themes are: organization and styles in scientific work; competition and controversy in scientific practice; choice of research problems; creativity; and the development of new interdisciplinary fields.