Svante Arrhenius was born in Sweden. He learned to read at the age of three and

became interested in mathematics and

physics at an early age. He proposed in his doctoral thesis that electrolytes split into ions in water. For his efforts he was

awarded the barest of passes. Fortunately, William Ostwald and Jacobus van´t Hoff

promoted his work on electrolytic theory. He was awarded the 1903 Nobel prize for Chemistry for roughly the same thesis that had been nearly rejected nineteen years previously. He had universal interests in science and proposed the greenhouse

effect.

1859 - 1927

Svante August