S. P. L. Sørensen

S. P. L. Sørensen

S. P. L. Sørensen
Born 9 January 1868
Havrebjerg, Denmark
Died 12 February 1939 (aged 71)
Nationality Danish
Fields Chemistry
Institutions Carlsberg Laboratory
Known for pH

Søren Peder Lauritz Sørensen (9 January 1868 12 February 1939) was a Danish chemist, famous for the introduction of the concept of pH, a scale for measuring acidity and basicity. He was born in Havrebjerg, Denmark.

From 1901 to 1938 he was head of the prestigious Carlsberg Laboratory, Copenhagen.[1] While working at the Carlsberg Laboratory he studied the effect of ion concentration on proteins,[2] and because the concentration of hydrogen ions was particularly important, he introduced the pH-scale as a simple way of expressing it in 1909.[3] The article in which he introduced the scale (using the notation pH[4]), described two new methods for measuring acidity.[5] The first method was based on electrodes, while the second involved comparing the colors of samples and a preselected set of indicators.

He is also known for the Sørensen formol titration.

References

  1. "Sørensen, Søren Peter Lauritz (1868-1939)". 100 Distinguished European Chemists. European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
  2. "Søren Sørenson". Chemical Achievers - The Human Face of the Chemical Science. Chemical Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
  3. Alberty, Robert; Silbey, Robert (1996). Physical Chemistry (second ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 244. ISBN 0-471-10428-0.
  4. Sørensen, S. P. L. (1909). "Enzymstudien. II: Mitteilung. Über die Messung und die Bedeutung der Wasserstoffionenkoncentration bei enzymatischen Prozessen". Biochemische Zeitschrift (in German) 21: 131–304.
  5. Nielsen, Anita Kildebæk (2001). "S.P.L. Sørensen" (in Danish). Biokemisk forening. Retrieved 2007-01-09.