Theodor Svedberg


Theodor Svedberg was a Swedish chemist and Nobel laureate for his research on colloids and proteins using the ultracentrifuge, active at Uppsala University.

Early life and education

Theodor Svedberg was born in Gävleborg, Sweden. He was the son of Augusta Alstermark and Elias Svedberg. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1905, his master's degree in 1907, and in 1908, he earned his Ph.D.

Research

Svedberg's work with colloids supported the theories of Brownian motion put forward by Albert Einstein and the Polish geophysicist Marian Smoluchowski. During this work, he developed the technique of analytical ultracentrifugation, and demonstrated its utility in distinguishing pure proteins one from another.

Awards and honours

The unit svedberg, a unit of time amounting to 10−13 s or 100 fs, is named after him, as well as the Svedberg Laboratory in Uppsala.
Svedberg's candidacy for the Royal Society reads: