
Just to revise, pH is a measure of how many hydrogen ions there are in a solution, which in turn tells you how acidic or basic the solution is. The concept of pH was first introduced by S.P.L. Sørensen (in picture) in 1909.
(Video titled "khanacademy — September 06, 2009 — Autoionization of water into hydronium and hydroxide ions. pH, pOH, and pKa.", sourced from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q4vSKwaBtw)