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| {{Infobox scientist
| | I am Winifred and was born on 12 July 1972. My hobbies are Rugby league football and Ice hockey.<br><br>my weblog - [http://socialmediaexaminer.edublogs.org/ media marketing] |
| |name = Svante Arrhenius
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| |image = Arrhenius2.jpg
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| |birth_name=Svante August Arrhenius
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| |birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1859|2|19}}
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| |birth_place = [[Wik Castle]], Sweden
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| |nationality = Swedish
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| |death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1927|10|2|1859|2|19}}
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| |death_place = [[Stockholm]], Sweden
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| |field = [[Physics]], [[chemistry]]
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| |work_institution = [[Royal Institute of Technology]]
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| |alma_mater = [[Uppsala University]]<br>[[Stockholm University]]
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| |doctoral_advisor = [[Per Teodor Cleve]], [[Erik Edlund]]
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| |doctoral_students = [[Oskar Klein|Oskar Benjamin Klein]]
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| |known_for = [[Arrhenius equation]]<br>[[Dissociation (chemistry)|Theory of ionic dissociation]]<br>[[Acid-base reactions#Arrhenius definition|Acid-base theory]]
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| |prizes = {{nowrap|[[Nobel Prize for Chemistry]] (1903)<br>[[Franklin Medal]] (1920) }}
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| |religion =
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| |footnotes =
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| '''Svante August Arrhenius''' (19 February 1859 – 2 October 1927) was a [[Sweden|Swedish]] [[scientist]], originally a [[physicist]], but often referred to as a [[chemist]], and one of the founders of the science of [[physical chemistry]]. He received the [[Nobel Prize for Chemistry]] in 1903 and in 1905 became Director of the [[Nobel Institute]] where he remained until his death.<ref name=Chambers>"Arrhenius, Svante August" in ''[[Chambers's Encyclopædia]]''. London: [[George Newnes]], 1961, Vol. 1, p. 635.</ref> The [[Arrhenius equation]], [[Arrhenius acid|Arrhenius definition of an acid]], [[Moon|lunar]] [[Impact crater|crater]] [[Arrhenius (lunar crater)|Arrhenius]] and the Arrhenius Labs at [[Stockholm University]] are named after him.
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| ==Biography==
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| ===Early years===
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| Arrhenius was born on February 19, 1859 at Vik (also spelled Wik or Wijk), near [[Uppsala]], Sweden, the son of Svante Gustav and Carolina Thunberg Arrhenius. His father had been a [[surveying|land surveyor]] for [[Uppsala University]], moving up to a supervisory position. At the age of three, Arrhenius taught himself to read without the encouragement of his parents, and by watching his father's addition of numbers in his account books, became an [[arithmetic]]al [[child prodigy|prodigy]]. In later life, Arrhenius enjoyed using masses of data to discover mathematical relationships and laws.
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| At age 8, he entered the local cathedral school, starting in the [[fifth grade]], distinguishing himself in [[physics]] and [[mathematics]], and graduating as the youngest and most able student in 1876.
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| At the University of Uppsala, he was unsatisfied with the chief instructor of physics and the only faculty member who could have supervised him in chemistry, [[Per Teodor Cleve]], so he left to study at the Physical Institute of the Swedish Academy of Sciences in [[Stockholm]] under the physicist [[Erik Edlund]] in 1881. His work focused on the [[Conductivity (electrolytic)|conductivities]] of [[electrolyte]]s. In 1884, based on this work, he submitted a 150-page dissertation on electrolytic conductivity to Uppsala for the [[Doctor of Philosophy|doctorate]]. It did not impress the professors, among whom was [[Per Teodor Cleve]], and he received a fourth class degree, but upon his defence it was reclassified as third class. Later, extensions of this very work would earn him the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]].
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| There were 56 theses put forth in the 1884 dissertation, and most would still be accepted today unchanged or with minor modifications.
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| The most important idea in the dissertation was his explanation of the fact that neither pure [[salt]]s nor pure [[water]] is a [[conductor (material)|conductor]], but solutions of salts in water are.
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| Arrhenius' explanation was that in forming a solution, the salt dissociates into charged particles (to which [[Michael Faraday]] had given the name [[ion]]s many years earlier). Faraday's belief had been that ions were produced in the process of [[electrolysis]]; Arrhenius proposed that, even in the absence of an electric current, solutions of salts contained ions.
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| He thus proposed that chemical reactions in solution were reactions between ions.
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| The dissertation was not very impressive to the professors at Uppsala, but Arrhenius sent it to a number of scientists in Europe who were developing the new science of [[physical chemistry]], such as [[Rudolf Clausius]], [[Wilhelm Ostwald]], and [[J. H. van 't Hoff]].
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| They were far more impressed, and Ostwald even came to Uppsala to persuade Arrhenius to join his research team. Arrhenius declined, however, as he preferred to stay in Sweden for a while (his father was very ill and would die in 1885) and had received an appointment at Uppsala.
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| In an extension of his [[ion|ionic theory]] Arrhenius proposed definitions for [[acid]]s and [[Base (chemistry)|bases]], in 1884. He believed that acids were substances that produce [[hydrogen]] [[ions]] in [[solution]] and that bases were substances that produce hydroxide ions in solution.
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| ===Middle period===
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| Arrhenius next received a travel grant from the Swedish Academy of Sciences, which enabled him to study with Ostwald in [[Riga]] (now in [[Latvia]]), with [[Friedrich Kohlrausch]] in [[Würzburg]], Germany, with [[Ludwig Boltzmann]] in [[Graz, Austria]], and with van 't Hoff in [[Amsterdam]].
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| In 1889 Arrhenius explained the fact that most reactions require added heat energy to proceed by formulating the concept of [[activation energy]], an energy barrier that must be overcome before two molecules will react.
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| The [[Arrhenius equation]] gives the quantitative basis of the relationship between the activation energy and the rate at which a reaction proceeds.
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| In 1891 he became a lecturer at the Stockholm University College (''Stockholms Högskola'', now [[Stockholm University]]), being promoted to professor of physics (with much opposition) in 1895, and [[Rector (academia)|rector]] in 1896.
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| He was married twice, first to his former pupil Sofia Rudbeck (1894 to 1896), with whom he had one son, and then to Maria Johansson (1905 to 1927), with whom he had two daughters and a son.
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| About 1900, Arrhenius became involved in setting up the Nobel Institutes and the [[Nobel Prize]]s. He was elected a member of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]] in 1901. For the rest of his life, he would be a member of the [[Nobel Committee]] on Physics and a de facto member of the Nobel Committee on Chemistry. He used his positions to arrange prizes for his friends ([[Jacobus van't Hoff]], [[Wilhelm Ostwald]], [[Theodore William Richards|Theodore Richards]]) and to attempt to deny them to his enemies ([[Paul Ehrlich]], [[Walther Nernst]], [[Dmitri Mendeleev]]).<ref>Patrick Coffey, Cathedrals of Science: ''The Personalities and Rivalries That Made Modern Chemistry'', Oxford University Press, 2008,</ref> In 1901 Arrhenius was elected to the Swedish Academy of Sciences, against strong opposition. In 1903 he became the first Swede to be awarded the [[Nobel Prize in chemistry]].
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| In 1905, upon the founding of the Nobel Institute for Physical Research at Stockholm, he was appointed [[Rector (academia)|rector]] of the institute, the position where he remained until retirement in 1927. He became a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1910.<ref>[http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?id=5971 Fellow of the month – Arrhenius<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In 1912, he was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|accessdate=25 April 2011}}</ref>
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| ===Later years===
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| [[Image:Arrhenius family grave.jpg|thumb|Arrhenius' family grave in [[Uppsala]]]]
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| Eventually, Arrhenius' theories became generally accepted and he turned to other scientific topics. In 1902 he began to investigate [[physiology|physiological]] problems in terms of chemical theory. He determined that reactions in living organisms and in the test tube followed the same laws. In 1904 he delivered at the [[University of California]] a course of lectures, the object of which was to illustrate the application of the methods of physical chemistry to the study of the theory of [[toxins]] and [[antitoxins]], and which were published in 1907 under the title ''Immunochemistry''.
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| He also turned his attention to [[geology]] (the origin of [[ice age]]s), [[astronomy]], [[physical cosmology]], and [[astrophysics]], accounting for the birth of the [[solar system]] by interstellar collision.
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| He considered [[radiation pressure]] as accounting for [[comet]]s, the solar [[corona]], the [[aurora borealis]], and [[zodiacal light]].
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| He thought life might have been carried from planet to planet by the transport of [[spore]]s, the theory now known as [[panspermia]].<ref>Arrhenius, S., ''Worlds in the Making: The Evolution of the Universe''. New York, Harper & Row, 1908,</ref> He thought of the idea of a [[universal language]], proposing a modification of the [[English language]].
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| [[Gordon Stein]] wrote that Svante Arrhenius was an atheist.<ref>{{cite book|title=The encyclopedia of unbelief, Volume 1|year=1988|publisher=Prometheus Books|isbn=9780879753078|author=Gordon Stein|accessdate=11 September 2012|page=594|quote=Svante Arrhenius (I859-I927), recipient of the Nobel Prize in chemistry (I903), was a declared atheist and the author of The Evolution of the Worlds and other works on cosmic physics.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Svante Arrhenius|url=http://www.nndb.com/people/875/000092599/|publisher=Soylent Communications|accessdate=11 September 2012|author=NNDB.com}}</ref>
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| In his last years he wrote both textbooks and popular books, trying to emphasize the need for further work on the topics he discussed.
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| In September, 1927, he came down with an attack of acute [[intestine|intestinal]] [[catarrh]], died on 2 October, and was buried in Uppsala.
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| ===Greenhouse effect===
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| Arrhenius developed a theory to explain the [[ice age]]s, and in 1896 he was the first scientist to attempt to calculate how changes in the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could alter the surface temperature through the [[greenhouse effect]].<ref>"[http://www.globalwarmingart.com/images/1/18/Arrhenius.pdf On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air Upon the Temperature of the Ground]", Philosophical Magazine 1896(41): 237-76</ref> He was influenced by the work of others, including [[Joseph Fourier]] and [[John Tyndall]]. Arrhenius used the infrared observations of the moon by [[Frank Washington Very]] and [[Samuel Pierpont Langley]] at the [[Allegheny Observatory]] in Pittsburgh to calculate the absorption of infrared radiation by atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> and water vapour. Using 'Stefan's law' (better known as the [[Stefan-Boltzmann law]]), he formulated his greenhouse law.
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| In its original form, Arrhenius' greenhouse law reads as follows:
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| ::''if the quantity of carbonic acid [CO<sub>2</sub>] increases in geometric progression, the augmentation of the temperature will increase nearly in arithmetic progression.''
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| The following equivalent formulation of Arrhenius' greenhouse law is still used today:<ref name=Walter>Martin E. Walter, [http://www.ams.org/notices/201010/rtx101001278p.pdf "Earthquakes and Weatherquakes: Mathematics and Climate Change"], ''Notices of the American Mathematical Society'', Volume 57, Number 10, page 1278 (November 2010).</ref>
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| ::<strong>ΔF = α Ln</strong>(<math>C</math>/<math>C_0</math>)
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| Here <math>C</math> is carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) concentration measured in [[Parts-per notation|parts per]] million by volume (ppmv); <math>C_0</math> denotes a baseline or unperturbed concentration of CO<sub>2</sub>, and ΔF is the [[radiative forcing]], measured in [[watt]]s per square [[meter]]. The constant alpha (α) has been assigned a value between five and seven.<ref name=Walter />
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| [[File:Solvay conference, 1922.jpg|thumb|Arrhenius at the first Solvay conference on chemistry in 1922 in [[Brussels]].]]
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| Based on information from his colleague {{Ill|sv|Arvid Högbom}}, Arrhenius was the first person to predict that emissions of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels and other combustion processes were large enough to cause global warming. In his calculation Arrhenius included the feedback from changes in water vapor as well as latitudinal effects, but he omitted clouds, convection of heat upward in the atmosphere, and other essential factors. His work is currently seen less as an accurate prediction of global warming than as the first demonstration that it should be taken as a serious possibility.
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| Arrhenius' absorption values for CO<sub>2</sub> and his conclusions met criticism by [[Knut Ångström]] in 1900, who published the first modern infrared spectrum of CO<sub>2</sub> with two absorption bands, and published experimental results that seemed to show that absorption of infrared radiation by the gas in the atmosphere was already "saturated" so that adding more could make no difference. Arrhenius replied strongly in 1901 (''Annalen der Physik''), dismissing the critique altogether. He touched the subject briefly in a technical book titled ''Lehrbuch der kosmischen Physik'' (1903). He later wrote ''Världarnas utveckling'' (1906) (German: ''Das Werden der Welten'' [1907], English: [http://books.google.com/books?id=1t45AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover ''Worlds in the Making''] [1908]) directed at a general audience, where he suggested that the human emission of CO<sub>2</sub> would be strong enough to prevent the world from entering a new ice age, and that a warmer earth would be needed to feed the rapidly increasing population:
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| :: "To a certain extent the temperature of the earth's surface, as we shall presently see, is conditioned by the properties of the atmosphere surrounding it, and particularly by the permeability of the latter for the rays of heat." (p46)
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| :: "That the atmospheric envelopes limit the heat losses from the planets had been suggested about 1800 by the great French physicist Fourier. His ideas were further developed afterwards by Pouillet and Tyndall. Their theory has been styled the hot-house theory, because they thought that the atmosphere acted after the manner of the glass panes of hot-houses." (p51)
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| :: "If the quantity of carbonic acid [CO<sub>2</sub>] in the air should sink to one-half its present percentage, the temperature would fall by about 4°; a diminution to one-quarter would reduce the temperature by 8°. On the other hand, any doubling of the percentage of carbon dioxide in the air would raise the temperature of the earth's surface by 4°; and if the carbon dioxide were increased fourfold, the temperature would rise by 8°." (p53)
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| :: "Although the sea, by absorbing carbonic acid, acts as a regulator of huge capacity, which takes up about five-sixths of the produced carbonic acid, we yet recognize that the slight percentage of carbonic acid in the atmosphere may by the advances of industry be changed to a noticeable degree in the course of a few centuries." (p54)
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| :: "Since, now, warm ages have alternated with glacial periods, even after man appeared on the earth, we have to ask ourselves: Is it probable that we shall in the coming geological ages be visited by a new ice period that will drive us from our temperate countries into the hotter climates of Africa? There does not appear to be much ground for such an apprehension. The enormous combustion of coal by our industrial establishments suffices to increase the percentage of carbon dioxide in the air to a perceptible degree." (p61)
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| :: "We often hear lamentations that the coal stored up in the earth is wasted by the present generation without any thought of the future, and we are terrified by the awful destruction of life and property which has followed the volcanic eruptions of our days. We may find a kind of consolation in the consideration that here, as in every other case, there is good mixed with the evil. By the influence of the increasing percentage of carbonic acid in the atmosphere, we may hope to enjoy ages with more equable and better climates, especially as regards the colder regions of the earth, ages when the earth will bring forth much more abundant crops than at present, for the benefit of rapidly propagating mankind." (p63)
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| Arrhenius clearly believed that a warmer world would be a positive change. His ideas remained in circulation, but until about 1960 most scientists doubted that global warming would occur (believing the oceans would absorb CO<sub>2</sub> faster than humanity emitted the gas).{{citation needed|date=February 2014}} Most scientists also dismissed the greenhouse effect as implausible for the cause of ice ages, as [[Milutin Milankovitch]] had presented a mechanism using orbital changes of the earth ([[Milankovitch cycles]]).{{citation needed|date=February 2014}} Nowadays, the accepted explanation is that [[orbital forcing]] sets the timing for ice ages with CO<sub>2</sub> acting as an essential [[positive feedback|amplifying feedback]].
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| Arrhenius estimated that halving of CO<sub>2</sub> would decrease temperatures by 4–5 °C (Celsius) and a doubling of CO<sub>2</sub> would cause a temperature rise of 5–6 °C.<ref>[http://www.aip.org/history/climate/co2.htm The Carbon Dioxide Greenhouse Effect<!-- bot-generated title -->] at www.aip.org</ref> In his 1906 publication, Arrhenius adjusted the value downwards to 1.6 °C (including water vapor feedback: 2.1 °C). Recent (2007) estimates from [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change|IPCC]] say this value (the [[Climate sensitivity]]) is likely to be between 2 and 4.5 °C. Arrhenius expected CO<sub>2</sub> levels to rise at a rate given by emissions in his time. Since then, industrial carbon dioxide levels have risen at a much faster rate: Arrhenius expected CO<sub>2</sub> doubling to take about 3000 years; it is now estimated in most scenarios to take about a century.
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| ===Racial biology===
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| Svante Arrhenius was one of several leading Swedish scientists actively engaged in the process leading to the creation in 1922 of [[Statens institut för rasbiologi|The State Institute for Racial Biology]] in Uppsala, Sweden, which had originally been proposed as a [[Nobel Institute]]. Arrhenius was a member of the institute's board, as he had been in The Swedish Society for Racial Hygiene (Eugenics), founded in 1909.<ref>Spektorowski, A. and Mizrachi, E., 2004, "Eugenics and the Welfare State in Sweden: The Politics of Social Margins and the Idea of a Productive Society", Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 39, pp. 333-352, {{doi|10.1177/0022009404044443}}</ref>
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| ==See also==
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| *[[Acid–base reaction]]
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| *[[History of climate change science]]
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| == Bibliography ==
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| *Svante Arrhenius, 1884, ''Recherches sur la conductivité galvanique des électrolytes'', doctoral dissertation, Stockholm, Royal publishing house, P.A. Norstedt & söner, 89 pages.
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| *Svante Arrhenius, 1896a, ''Ueber den Einfluss des Atmosphärischen Kohlensäurengehalts auf die Temperatur der Erdoberfläche'', in the Proceedings of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, Stockholm 1896, Volume 22, I N. 1, pages 1–101.
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| *Svante Arrhenius, 1896b, ''[http://www.globalwarmingart.com/images/1/18/Arrhenius.pdf On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air upon the Temperature of the Ground]'', London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science (fifth series), April 1896. vol 41, pages 237–275.
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| *Svante Arrhenius, 1901a, ''Ueber die Wärmeabsorption durch Kohlensäure'', Annalen der Physik, Vol 4, 1901, pages 690–705.
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| *Svante Arrhenius, 1901b, ''Über Die Wärmeabsorption Durch Kohlensäure Und Ihren Einfluss Auf Die Temperatur Der Erdoberfläche''. Abstract of the proceedings of the Royal Academy of Science, 58, 25–58.
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| *Svante Arrhenius, 1903, ''Lehrbuch der Kosmischen Physik'', Vol I and II, S. Hirschel publishing house, Leipzig, 1026 pages.
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| *Svante Arrhenius, 1906, ''Die vermutliche Ursache der Klimaschwankungen'', Meddelanden från K. Vetenskapsakademiens Nobelinstitut, Vol 1 No 2, pages 1–10
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| *Svante Arrhenius, 1908, ''Das Werden der Welten'', Academic Publishing House, Leipzig, 208 pages.
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| ==References==
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| {{reflist|2}}
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| ==Further reading==
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| * {{cite encyclopedia | last=Snelders | first=H.A.M. | title=Arrhenius, Svante August | encyclopedia=[[Dictionary of Scientific Biography]] | volume=1 | pages=296–301 | publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons | location=New York | year=1970 | isbn=0-684-10114-9}}
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| * Crawford, Elisabeth T. ''Arrhenius: from ionic theory to the greenhouse effect'' Canton, MA: Science History Publications. ISBN 0-88135-166-0
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| *Patrick Coffey, ''Cathedrals of Science: The Personalities and Rivalries That Made Modern Chemistry'', Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-19-532134-0
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| ==External links==
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| {{Commons category}}
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| *[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1903/arrhenius-bio.html Biography] Biography from [[Nobelprize.org]] website
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| *[http://www.iva.se/upload/Verksamhet/Högtidssammankomst/Minnesskrift%202008.pdf A Tribute to the Memory of Svante Arrhenius (1859–1927) – a scientist ahead of his time], published in 2008 by the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences]]
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| *[http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?id=5971 Svante Arrhenius (1859-1927)]
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| *[http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/pioneers/arrhenius.html Pioneers in Electricity and Magnetism – Svante Arrhenius] National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
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| *[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1903/arrhenius-lecture.html Nobel Lecture] ''Development of the Theory of Electrolytic Dissociation'' from Nobelprize.org website
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| *[http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/Obs../0050//0000363.000.html Obs '''50''' (1927) 363] – Obituary (one paragraph)
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| *[http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/PASP./0039//0000385.000.html PASP '''39''' (1927) 385] – Obituary (one paragraph)
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| {{Authority control|VIAF=5045360|LCCN=n/85/809004}}
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| {{Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureates 1901-1925}}
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| {{Swedish Nobel Laureates}}
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| {{Persondata<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
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| |NAME= Arrhenius, Svante
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| |ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
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| |SHORT DESCRIPTION= [[Chemist|Physical chemist]]
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| |DATE OF BIRTH= 19 February 1859
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| |PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Vik]], Sweden
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| |DATE OF DEATH= 2 October 1927
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| |PLACE OF DEATH= [[Stockholm]], Sweden
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| }}
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| {{DEFAULTSORT:Arrhenius, Svante}}
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| [[Category:1859 births]]
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| [[Category:1927 deaths]]
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| [[Category:People from Uppsala Municipality]]
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| [[Category:Nobel laureates in Chemistry]]
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| [[Category:Swedish physical chemists]]
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| [[Category:Swedish astronomers]]
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| [[Category:Panspermia]]
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| [[Category:Stockholm University academics]]
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| [[Category:Uppsala University alumni]]
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| [[Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]]
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| [[Category:Foreign Members of the Royal Society]]
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| [[Category:Corresponding Members of the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences]]
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| [[Category:Honorary Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences]]
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| [[Category:Swedish atheists]]
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| [[Category:Swedish Nobel laureates]]
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| [[Category:Faraday Lecturers]]
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| [[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
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