Which year did Mihail Tsvet invent chromatography?

Which year did Mihail Tsvet invent chromatography?

• A. 1890
• B. 1895
• C. 1899
• D. 1900

Answer: (D)

Chromatography separates the components of a mixture based on how strongly each component interacts with a stationary phase versus a moving solvent. Mihail Tsvet demonstrated this idea by passing a solvent through a solid adsorbent and plant pigments, which split into visible color bands as they traveled at different speeds. The year commonly cited for this invention is 1900, when he first described and demonstrated the technique. Dates earlier than this don’t reflect the invention itself, and subsequent work built on and refined the method, but 1900 is the moment historians associate with the birth of chromatography.

Chromatography separates the components of a mixture based on how strongly each component interacts with a stationary phase versus a moving solvent. Mihail Tsvet demonstrated this idea by passing a solvent through a solid adsorbent and plant pigments, which split into visible color bands as they traveled at different speeds. The year commonly cited for this invention is 1900, when he first described and demonstrated the technique. Dates earlier than this don’t reflect the invention itself, and subsequent work built on and refined the method, but 1900 is the moment historians associate with the birth of chromatography.