chemistry

Nils Andreas Sørensen

Nils Andreas Sørensen is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Nils Andreas Sørensen rather than just read about it. In short: Nils Andreas Sørensen (8 December 1909 – 8 June 1987) was a Norwegian chemist and professor of organic chemistry at the Norwegian Technical College in Trondheim. Early life and education Nils Andreas Sørensen was born in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway.

Key takeaways

Nils Andreas Sørensen belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Nils Andreas Sørensen to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Nils Andreas Sørensen from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Nils Andreas Sørensen (8 December 1909 – 8 June 1987) was a Norwegian chemist and professor of organic chemistry at the Norwegian Technical College in Trondheim.

Early life and education Nils Andreas Sørensen was born in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway. He was a son of Inge Sørensen (1875–1951) and Helene Raknerud (1879–1968), and was a grandson of newspaper editor Lars Raknerud. In 1936 he married chemical engineer Jørgine Stene (1905–1997) with whom he had worked in the lab of nutritional chemist Sigval Schmidt-Nielsen(sv) (1877–1956).

Career He earned his Ph.D. degree in 1937 and was appointed professor of organic chemistry at the Norwegian Institute of Technology from 1939 to 1977. He published about one hundred scientific papers with a primary focus on carbohydrates, carotenoids and natural acetylene compounds. In addition to the field of organic chemistry, he also contributed to botanics. He collaborated with his wife Jørgine Stene on many of his projects and they co-wrote twenty five joint publications. In 1938, the couple worked with chemist Richard Kuhn (1900–1967) in Heidelberg on the study of astaxanthin which resulted in a joint publication in Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft in 1939. During the Second World War, Sørensen was arrested by Nazi German occupying forces in 1943 and was imprisoned for two years. Sørensen was a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. He was an honorary member of Norsk Kjemisk Selskab, and received the Nansen medal for Outstanding Research. Sørensen was decorated Knight, First Class of the Order of St. Olav in 1965. A sculpture of Sørensen by Johannes Block Hellum is located at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Nils Andreas Sørensen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Nils Andreas Sørensen claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Nils Andreas Sørensen before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Nils Andreas Sørensen ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Nils Andreas Sørensen

In research: Nils Andreas Sørensen appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Nils Andreas Sørensen in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Nils Andreas Sørensen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1909 births, 1987 deaths, 20th-century chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Nils Andreas Sørensen outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Nils Andreas Sørensen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Nils Andreas Sørensen means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Nils Andreas Sørensen in simple terms?

Nils Andreas Sørensen (8 December 1909 – 8 June 1987) was a Norwegian chemist and professor of organic chemistry at the Norwegian Technical College in Trondheim. Early life and education Nils Andreas Sørensen was born in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway.

Why does Nils Andreas Sørensen matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Nils Andreas Sørensen?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Nils Andreas Sørensen.