Informant38

Arrhenius knew that his idea was new and very different to the accepted ideas. When he wrote up his paper he tried to make his ideas acceptable but his examiners were unhappy. They awarded him only a fourth class degree, the lowest pass possible. It would mean that he could not take up a permanent teaching position at the university.
Arrhenius was disappointed with his result but sent his paper to well known chemists. One, Wilhelm Ostwald, saw that Arrhenius' ideas could be useful and became his champion. Ostwald was one of the leading chemists of his time. Arrhenius was awarded a travelling scholarship and spent five years visiting laboratories around Europe, developing his ideas. In 1887 he published his theory in the journal edited by Ostwald and now the whole world knew of his ideas on ions in solution. Gradually other scientists accepted his theory - all except the Swedes. In 1895 he was put forward as a professor at the university of Stockholm. Many of the elderly professors disapproved of Arrhenius and his theories but eventually, with Ostwald's help, he was awarded the position. Soon Arrhenius was recognised as one of the great chemists and was awarded one of the first Nobel Prizes in 1903. Following this the King of Sweden founded the Nobel Institute and made Arrhenius its director.
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Arrhenius has other interests. He investigated the effect of temperature on the speed of reactions and explained how only a few molecules in a reaction mixture have the required energy (the activation energy) to react. As a hobby, Arrhenius was interested in cosmology and meteorology. He developed the theory that life was carried to Earth through space. He imagined bacteria being carried from star to star and that life was common in the universe. Few scientists agreed with him.

In 1895 he carried out some calculations that showed the effect of carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere on the temperature of the Earth. He knew that carbon dioxide absorbs infra-red radiation resulting in a warming effect on the atmosphere. He calculated that the surface of the Earth was about 30oC warmer than it would be if there were no atmosphere and he thought the Ice Ages happened when the amount of carbon dioxide in the air fell for some reason. In 1904 he became concerned that industry was causing an increase in carbon dioxide levels but he thought that the global warming that would result would have good effects. In fact carbon dioxide levels have risen much faster than Arrhenius expected although the global warming has been less than he calculated.