World
SPL Sørensen is known to the world for introducing the pH scale
Updated : May 29, 2018, 03:23 PM IST
Danish scientist Søren Peder Lauritz Sørensen, known to the world for introducing the pH scale, was celebrated in a Google Doodle on Tuesday. Today's doodle is an animated game that shows us food item or other substances, and we have to sort it according to its pH values. The pH scale is used to measure acidity and alkalinity of a substance and has a wide range of applications even in today's time.
Here are 5 things about SPL Sørensen:
1. Sørensen was born on January 9, 1868 to a farmer father in Havrebjerg.
2. He began his studies at the University of Copenhagen at the age of 18 and wanted to make a career in the field of medicine. He was influenced by Chemist S M Jørgensen and decided to study chemistry.
3. The introduction of pH scale is his biggest achievement. pH stands for the power of hydrogen, which is a measurement of the hydrogen ion concentration in the body. Developed by Sørensen in 1909, pH scale is a logarithmic scale which measures the presence of Hydrogen ion in a solution, which decides its acidity or basicity.
4. As he struggled to meet ends meet during his university days, Sørensen also worked as a consultant at the royal naval dockyard. He also acted as assistant in chemistry at the laboratory of the Danish Polytechnic Institute and assisted in a geological survey of Denmark.
5. He served as the director of the chemical department at the Carlsberg Laboratory in Copenhagen from 1901 to 1938. Although the laboratory, opened by Carlsberg brewery founder JC Jacobsen in 1875, mostly researched on brewing, Sørensen made an important discovery while working there. He was helped in researches by his wife Margrethe Høyrup Sørensen, also a scientist, as both worked together at the Carlsberg Laboratory.