Arne Tiselius Chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1948. Date of Birth: 10.08.1902 Country: Sweden

Biography of Arne Wilhelm Kaurin Tiselius

Arne Wilhelm Kaurin Tiselius was a Swedish biochemist, best known for receiving the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1948. He was born into the family of Hans Abraham Jöns Tiselius, an insurance company employee, and Rosa Kaurin, the daughter of a Norwegian priest. After his father's death in 1906, Tiselius and his mother moved to Gothenburg, where they lived with relatives and friends.

Tiselius developed an interest in chemistry and biology while attending a gymnasium in Gothenburg, where he had a talented teacher. In 1921, he enrolled at Uppsala University and obtained a master's degree in chemistry, physics, and mathematics in 1925. He stayed at Uppsala University as an assistant in physical chemistry under The Svedberg, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1926. Svedberg studied electrophoresis and proposed that Tiselius investigate this phenomenon. Electrophoresis is the movement of dispersed particles in a solution under the influence of an external electric field. Tiselius discovered that careful control of temperature and electric current could indeed separate proteins. He developed special optical methods to monitor the migration of molecules under the influence of the current and proved that electrophoresis could separate mixtures that appeared homogeneous when centrifuged.

In the early 1940s, Tiselius turned his attention to chromatography, using the term "adsorption analysis" for this analytical method. Unlike the positional separation of substances in an adsorption column used by the method's pioneer, Mikhail Tsvet, Tiselius separated substances based on the time they took to pass through the column. This led to the development of the frontal chromatographic method, which could be used to analyze proteins, amino acids, and carbohydrates. Tiselius investigated various variations of this technology, including the use of eluents that were adsorbed more strongly as a whole than any of the separated substances. He called this technology displacement analysis.

Tiselius was heavily involved in administrative duties and consulting roles, serving as an advisor to government organizations and a member of numerous state committees. From 1946 to 1950, he chaired the Swedish State Council for Research in Natural Sciences, and in 1947, he became the vice president of the Nobel Foundation and served as the secretary of the Nobel Committee for 25 years.

In 1948, Tiselius was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his research on electrophoresis and adsorption analysis, especially for his discoveries concerning the complex nature of serum proteins." The analytical and purification methods proposed by Tiselius have been widely applied in various fields of human activity.

Tiselius advocated for an interdisciplinary scientific approach and applied principles of physics in developing chemical analytical methods to study biological objects. As a consultant, he contributed to strengthening the connection between science and industry and establishing contacts between scientists and the government. He promoted the expansion of international scientific exchange and emphasized the importance of science addressing environmental issues, ethical considerations, and the social aspects of societal development.

In 1960, Tiselius was elected the president of the Nobel Foundation and established the Nobel Symposium, an annual gathering of leading scientists from award-winning fields to discuss the latest achievements, particularly their ethical and social aspects.

Tiselius had a lifelong passion for birds and founded the Baknammer Academy of Sciences, which consisted of several amateur ornithologists.

Sadly, Tiselius passed away from a heart attack on October 29, 1971, in Stockholm, during the organization of an international meeting of directors of research institutes.

Some of Tiselius's notable works include "A new method for determination of the mobility of proteins" (1926) with T. Svedberg, "Electrophoresis of serum globulin. II. Electrophoretic analysis of normal and immune sera" (1937), "Colloid Chemistry" (1947) with T. Svedberg, and "Separation and fractionation of macromolecules and particles" (1963) with J. Parath and P.A. Albertsson.