Chemistry's most welcome discovery came when it came to making the best beer

- Future Science - KR Chowdhury

Do I remember your elementary school lab? Is a laboratory chemical acid or basic? Litmus paper was used to test it. Maybe you remember. No problem if not. Do you suffer from skin diseases? So the doctor will want to know the full value of your skin! are you a farmer Before crop rotation and before growing any new crop. You need to get your farm land inspected. The first thing the inspector will check is what is the total value of your land? Metabolic processes in your body's cells are causing your body's cells to become more alkaline. Then you have a problem called metabolic alkalosis. If the production of acid in the body increases or if the acid is not removed over time, this problem can worsen.

Briefly, what is the nature of most chemicals? How to make great beer? How to make different dishes delicious? Are you dieting? What are the foods taken in the diet? If you want to get the answer to all these questions, you have to do a test related to the "pH value" of the substance. About 110 years ago, while conducting experiments with beer at the world-famous Carlsberg research laboratory in Copenhagen, the Danish chemist developed a simple yet durable “pH scale”. Does the “pH scale” indicate whether a substance is acidic or alkaline? This landmark discovery has been celebrated with an interactive Google Doodle. Why did this discovery not win the Nobel Prize, despite being a revolutionary discovery that was considered extremely useful for chemistry? That is also a controversial question.

The Unique Trio: Jacobsen, Oersted and Andersen

When it comes to making dishes like Gujarati Khaman, Dhokla, Idli, Handvo, Gujarati housewives know that 'the process of fermentation should be done systematically'. Scientists call the fermentation process. A species of yeast called 'Saccharomyces carlsbergensis' is very useful in the fermentation process. A century ago 'Saccharomyces carlsbergensis' was isolated by a private scientific research center in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1875 by J.C. by Jacobsen, with the aim of advancing biochemical knowledge. Today this private research center is known as the 'Carlsberg Research Laboratory', adopting the scientific name of Saccharomyces carlsbergensis.

J.C. who established a private laboratory. Jacobsen had no schooling, nor did he receive any scientific training. He sometimes went to listen to the lectures of a scientist named Hans Christian Oersted. Oersted was a Danish physicist and chemist. who discovered that 'when current flows in a conducting wire, a magnetic field is created in a direction perpendicular to the wire.' His research proved that there is a definite relationship between electricity and magnetism. The rules he gave are known as 'Oersted's Law'. In the SI system of the scientific world, the 'Oersted unit' has been adopted after him. Anders Sandow, politician and jurist, happened to be Orsted's brother. Anders Sandow served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 1853 to 1854. At this time he became a writer in Denmark. Whose name was: 'Hans Christian Andersen'. Although Anderson was a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels and poems, he is best remembered for his literary 'fairy tales'. Which is spread over nine volumes. Andersen's fairy tales have 156 stories. Which has been translated into more than 125 languages.

As in fasting, beer is substituted for alcohol

In this way, some of the taste buds on our tongue work like an all taster for us. A strangely poor mild bitterness is felt when tasting leafy green vegetables. The main reason is that the pH value of vegetables is more than seven. Tomato looks sour. Because tomato is acidic. A number on the pH scale is usually between 1 and 14. If the pH value is 1, the substance is considered highly acidic. If the pH is 14, the substance is considered highly alkaline. If the pH value is 7, it is considered neutral. Pure water used for drinking is a neutral compound. If you have no interest or knowledge of chemistry, you will find this invention very simple!

In general, a person who believes in abstinence, even if he does not drink alcohol, drinks beer instead of alcohol, just like fasting. There is also a large global market for beer in the world. It is about 1909. While producing beer at the world-famous Carlsberg research laboratory in Copenhagen, they ran into a problem? Carlsberg founder J.P. Jacobson's main goal was to produce the best quality beer. Is the fermentation process of beer progressing properly? That Jacobsen wanted to know. At this time there were only two terms to measure the acidity of a liquid. Very acidic or good-good.

At this time the head of the Carlsberg laboratory was Søren Peder Lauritz Sørensen. He felt that 'it would be better if the concentration of acid could be represented in some way. After much confusion, he developed the logarithmic pH scale. which showed the acidity or 'alkalinity' of the compound in the measurements. This was a very revolutionary invention. Had he filed a patent for this invention, he would have amassed a fortune. But they didn't turn all scales into lucrative patents for all mankind to use. This was a revolutionary discovery for chemistry. For which he became known. This scale helps scientists understand the chemical composition of liquids, so the discovery is priceless.

Søren Peder Lauritz Sørensen: Father of the pH scale

In 1868, Sorensen was born in a small village in Denmark, Havrebjerg. The population of this village today is 500 people. At the age of eighteen, Sørensen began his higher education at the University of Copenhagen. At this time the Danish chemist Sophus Mads Jorgensen was working on the chemistry of platinum and rhodium compounds. Jorgensen became known for his discussions with Alfred Werner during 1893-1899. In 1899 Jorgensen was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Sorensen was influenced by Jorgensen. Sorensen did not want to spend his whole life as a chemist. For a time he served as a consultant to the Royal Naval Dockyard.

In 1901, he assumed the position of head of Carlsberg Laboratories. Later in the laboratory he invented the pH scale. which was a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions in a given compound. In other words, hydrogen ions play a major role in the pH scale. This discovery inspired him to conduct new research in the field of thermodynamics with his wife Margrethe Hyrup Sørensen. In 1938, Sørensen left the famous Carlsberg lab, a year before his death. But his legacy still lives on. In February 2022, NASA named the multiplanet star system 'Sørensen' to honor the discovery of Søren Peder Lauritz Sørensen.

Molecule of taste: the emperor of taste and sodium

Jürgen Wendland, professor of biology at the Carlsberg Laboratory, and journalist and author Diane Fresquez talk about Carlsberg's contributions to science, including the actual origins of the pH scale. Many things have been written. Diane Fresquez has written six books entitled “A Taste of Molecules: In Search of the Secrets of Flavor”. In which we have talked about what kind of chemistry is formed in a dish that humans find delicious. 'The final pH of beer gives you flavor and sodium,' says Professor Wendland. If you can keep a truck of it, you can make high quality beer. Jacobsen's idea was not to keep the invention of the whole scale a secret. His aim was to simplify the process of brewing beer and liquor and to promote excellent quality beer. About Carlsberg's major achievements, Professor Jürgen Wendland says, 'The Carlsberg Research Laboratory's major contribution was the development of 'Carlsberg yeast' or Saccharomyces carlsbergensis. To breweries around the world, Carlsberg yeast is being shipped by the Carlsberg Research Laboratory.

Today, the pH scale has become a useful tool in many fields, including education, medicine, food science, and brewing. Sørensen was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry as well as Physiology and Medicine for the unique invention. But he was never awarded the Nobel Prize. According to Wendland, 'the Nobel committee must have thought that Sørensen had not solved any mystery of nature, had not established a new law of chemistry.' It is possible that 'the Noble Committee may not find his discovery as eternal as Einstein's E = mc2.' This may have deprived Sorensen of the Nobel Prize. 'Carlsberg always does taste tests in the morning, because our taste buds are at their peak in the morning,' says Diane.