the svedberg

Sved·berg   (svěd'bərg, -běr'ē)    Swedish chemist. He won a 1926 Nobel Prize for his work on disperse systems.

Main Entry: sved·berg
Pronunciation: 'sfed-"b&rg, -"ber-E
Function: noun
: a unit of time amounting to 10⁻¹³ secondthat is used to measure the sedimentation velocity of a colloidal solution (as of a protein) in an ultracentrifuge and to determine molecular weight by substitution in an equation called alsosvedberg unit
Svedáberg /'sved-"ber-E,/ Theodor (1884–1971), Swedish chemist. Svedberg was associated with the University of Uppsala for virtually allof his research career. In 1924 he developed the ultracentrifuge to facilitate the separation of colloids and large molecules. His ultracentrifuge helped determine the presence of substancescontaminating protein molecules. In 1926 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his development of the ultracentrifuge.