Lars Öhrström

Lars Öhrström

Lars Öhrström is a Swedish chemist and chemical engineer who has also worked in France, Botswana, Switzerland, and the US.

Educated at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm he is currently professor of inorganic chemistry at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg and head of the Chemical Engineering programme. He conducts research on Metal-Organic Frameworks and the use of network topology analysis in solid-state chemistry. He also nurtures an interest in the role of chemistry in history, art, literature and film and his popular science book The Last Alchemist in Paris (OUP, 2013) has been translated into several languages.

  • A photograph of Leif Tronstad with the Gunnerside team
    Opinion

    Leif Tronstad: the heavy water hero

    2018-02-07T10:00:00

    The chemist who ended Nazi attempts to make an atomic bomb

  • A very old mobile phone
    Podcast

    Tantalum pentoxide

    2014-09-24T00:00:00

    Lars Öhrström explains how tantalum(V)oxide banished ‘the brick’ and allows your mobile phone to fit in your pocket

  • Vintage cellphone
    Podcast

    Tantalum pentoxide

    2014-09-24T00:00:00

    Lars Öhrström explains how tantalum(V)oxide banished ‘the brick’ and allows your mobile phone to fit in your pocket

  • coloured balls of wool
    Podcast

    Alum

    2014-03-05T00:00:00

    Lars Öhrström delves into the history of alum, a compound linked to some of Europe’s most infamous families

  • Milk bottles
    Podcast

    Lactose

    2014-02-05T00:00:00

    Lactose intolerance leads to unpleasant and antisocial symptoms. Lars Öhrström finds out why

  • Glass jug and glass with milk
    Podcast

    Lactose

    2014-02-05T00:00:00

    Lactose intolerance leads to unpleasant and antisocial symptoms. Lars Öhrström finds out why

  • 1213CW-REVIEWS_30-second-element_300m
    Review

    30-second elements

    2013-11-22T00:00:00

    An element a day…

  • Phosphoric acid
    Podcast

    Phosphoric Acid

    2013-06-19T00:00:00

    Lars Öhrström on phosphoric acid: Crucial for crops and DNA’s backbone, it’s the energy currency of the biological world

  • An image showing a tractor spraying crops
    Podcast

    Phosphoric Acid

    2013-06-19T00:00:00

    Lars Öhrström on phosphoric acid: Crucial for crops and DNA’s backbone, it’s the energy currency of the biological world

  • Ferrocene
    Podcast

    Ferrocene

    2013-05-02T00:00:00

    Lars Öhrström gets his teeth into the first sandwich compound

  • Ferrocene powder, an organometallic chemical synthesized in a laboratory
    Podcast

    Ferrocene

    2013-05-02T00:00:00

    Lars Öhrström gets his teeth into the first sandwich compound

  • rhubarb
    Podcast

    Oxalic acid

    2013-04-25T00:00:00

    Lars Öhrström finds a link between Napoleon III and rhubarb

  • Fresh rhubarb on a wooden table
    Podcast

    Oxalic acid

    2013-04-25T00:00:00

    Lars Öhrström finds a link between Napoleon III and rhubarb

  • Removing nail varnish with acetone
    Podcast

    Acetone

    2012-12-05T00:00:00

    Where munitions meet manicures

  •  Aluminum-alumina bauxite foil, cryolite powders
    Podcast

    Cryolite

    2012-05-30T00:00:00

    An extremely rare compound that played an important role in World War II's aeroplane manufacturing industry 

  • Dental syringe and carpules with dental anesthesia,
    Podcast

    Lidocaine

    2011-10-26T00:00:00

     Lars Öhrström reveals the history of the pain-relieving compound used in dentistry

  • Fertilizer in famer's hand
    Podcast

    Potassium nitrate

    2011-03-16T00:00:00

    Lars Öhrström explores the origins of biotechnology 

  • Periodic table of the elements – 45 – Rhodium
    Podcast

    Rhodium

    2008-11-12T00:00:00

    An element whose rarity and reluctance to react make it oh so special

  • Periodic table of the elements – 90 – Thorium
    Podcast

    Thorium

    2008-07-02T00:00:00

    The element that once illuminated the world's cities