Svedberg, Theodor, << SVEHD `bar` yuh, TAY oh `dawr` >> (1884-1971), a Swedish chemist, became famous for developing the ultracentrifuge. This apparatus can spin materials so fast that they have 500,000 times the force of gravity at Earth’s surface acting upon them. Svedberg used this device to determine the masses of large molecules, such as proteins and carbohydrates. A molecule’s mass is the amount of matter it contains. The ultracentrifuge helped researchers in the study of colloids. A colloid is a material composed of tiny particles of one substance that are distributed, but not dissolved, in another substance. Blood and most other fluids in living things are colloids. Svedberg received the 1926 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work on colloids. He was born on Aug. 30, 1884, in Valbo, near Gavle, Sweden, and died on Feb. 25, 1971.
