Richard ZsigmondyBorn 1 Apr 1865; died 23 Sep 1929 at age 64.Richard Adolf Zsigmondy was an Austro-German chemist who was awarded who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1925 for “his demonstration of the heterogenous nature of colloid solutions and for the methods he used, which have since become fundamental in modern colloid chemistry."” Colloids are composed of submicroscopic particles dispersed within another substance. To conduct his research on colloids he invented the ultramicroscope (1903), with which he could view particles with a diameter of one 10-millionth of a millimetre not visible in a conventional microscope. It used an intense beam of light oriented in a position perpendicular to the microscope's optical axis. As particles scattered the incident light, their movements could be seen as flashes against a dark background.« |
