Jan Rydberg (1923–2015) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

academic who spent much of his working life at

Chalmers University of Technology Chalmers University of Technology ( sv, Chalmers tekniska högskola, often shortened to Chalmers) is a Swedish university located in Gothenburg that conducts research and education in technology and natural sciences at a high international level ...

. He was known for his work on solvent extraction which he did while working in the Nuclear Chemistry section at Chalmers.

Education

He obtained his masters (MS) in Stockholm in chemistry, physics, mathematics and psychology in 1947. The topic of his thesis was "Studies of complex formation by means of a liquid-liquid distribution method." and this was defended in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

in 1955, this was a thesis on the

Solvent Extraction A solvent (s) (from the Latin '' solvō'', "loosen, untie, solve") is a substance that dissolves a solute, resulting in a solution. A solvent is usually a liquid but can also be a solid, a gas, or a supercritical fluid. Water is a solvent for ...

of metals using

acetylacetone Acetylacetone is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is a colorless liquid, classified as a 1,3-diketone. It exists in equilibrium with a tautomer . These tautomers interconvert so rapidly under most conditions that they are tre ...

. His first scientific paper was on the subject of the complexes formed from thorium and acetylacetonate anions. This work was done using short-lived

radioactive Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is consid ...

thorium-234 obtained from uranium-238. At the solvent extraction conference (ISEC 2008) was awarded the “Carl Hanson Award” for his outstanding contribution to solvent extraction. He was one of the founding editors of the journal '' Solvent Extraction and Ion Exchange'', which is known as SXIX.

Career

He was an early worker in partitionering and transmutation, an alternative concept to the long term deep geological disposal of either used fuel or

high level waste High-level waste (HLW) is a type of nuclear waste created by the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. It exists in two main forms: * First and second cycle raffinate and other waste streams created by nuclear reprocessing. * Waste formed by vitr ...

. In P&T the alpha emitters which are the main contributors to the radiotoxicity of the waste (beyond 300 years) are removed from the liquid waste. These alpha emitters (transuranium actinides) are then destroyed (transmuted) by nuclear reactions. In 1962 he was appointed professor of nuclear chemistry at

in 1962, and he held this chair until 1988. While at Chalmers he developed the AKUFVE experimental rig which consists of two centrifugal machines coupled together. The work on the AKUFVE resulted in the development of the SISAK experimental equipment which is used to study very short-lived

radionuclides A radionuclide (radioactive nuclide, radioisotope or radioactive isotope) is a nuclide that has excess nuclear energy, making it unstable. This excess energy can be used in one of three ways: emitted from the nucleus as gamma radiation; transfer ...

. The SISAK equipment has been used to conduct research on the chemistry of superheavy elements. In recent years it has been used to study the chemistry of the transactinides. The AKUFVE was also used by Michael Cox to study metal extraction at

Warren Spring Laboratory Warren Spring Laboratory was a UK government environmental science research centre that operated in Stevenage, Hertfordshire from 1958 until its closure in 1994. Described by '' New Scientist'' as "Britain's leading laboratory for environmental re ...

(WSL) in

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

while working with Douglas Flett. The same type of experimental rig was used by Flett before to study the extraction of

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

using the β hydroxybenzophenone oxime (LIX65N) with and without the addition of LIX63. Also in recent times some workers in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

are also using the AKUFVE rig to study the rare earths He took part in the debate regarding the question of "should the use of nuclear power be increased or discontinued", this included an exchange of ideas which were published in the '' Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists''. Pro-nuclear Rydberg debated with Dean Abrahamson, Wendy Barnaby, Thomas B. Johansson and Peter Steen within the pages of the bulletin. Rydberg's rebuttal discusses how slowly glass, lead and copper

corrode Corrosion is a natural process that converts a refined metal into a more chemically stable oxide. It is the gradual deterioration of materials (usually a metal) by chemical or electrochemical reaction with their environment. Corrosion engine ...

. Abrahamson et al. reply in the same issue on page 61. Rydberg also has written a review on the risks from nuclear waste which was published by SKI (Report 96:70). SKI has now become part of SSM which is the Swedish Radiation Protection Board. Rydberg in later life was involved in the writing of two textbooks, one of which was ''Radiochemistry and Nuclear Chemistry'' ( Gregory R. Choppin,

Jan-Olov Liljenzin Jan-Olov Liljenzin (1936-2019) was a Swedish language, Swedish chemist and professor in nuclear chemistry. Liljenzin was professor at University of Oslo, Nuclear Chemistry, Norway 1986-1989, and at Chalmers University of Technology, Nuclear Chemi ...

and Jan Rydberg, published in 1995). This was reviewed in Applied Radiation and Isotopes by David M. Taylor.

Personal life and death

He was married to Britta E. Winroth on the 25th of October 1923, they had three daughters (Christina, Ingrid and Gunilla). He died in 2015 of heart failure but he had lived for years with

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

. After his death, a recycling prize at Chalmers was named after him.

Awards and honors

*Commander of the Order of the Polar Star *Membership of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences *Membership of the

Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Gothenburg The Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Gothenburg ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskaps- och Vitterhets-Samhället i Göteborg, abbreviated KVVS and often known simply as ''Samhället'') is a Swedish Royal Academy. Its predecessor was founded in Gothenburg ...

*The Carl Hanson Medal

Positions held

*Chairman of the Swedish Chemical Society *Dean of Chemistry at CTH, Gothenburg (1980–1982). *Director of MEAB (1970–1981), MEAB is a company which markets solvent extraction machines for industrial and research use.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rydberg, Jan Swedish chemists 1923 births 2015 deaths