John Kudrysch History of Chemistry
Help Received: Leicester Book
Russian chemistry became the center of the entire world during the 19th century. During this time the Russian scientists, while native of Russia, were not always located in Russia during their experiments, discoveries, and contributions to chemistry as a whole. For a long standing time the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg was the centerfold for scientific discovery and advancement for Russian scientists (1). However, this academy was often run and occupied with foreign scientists like the Germans because Russia initially lacked the power of scientists to occupy seats in the Academy. Once these Russian scientists developed and made a name for themselves they returned to their universities and took over seats where foreign scientists once sat instead (1). This movement gave the world renknown scientists such as Mendeleev, Butlerov, and Markovnikov (1). Mendeleev is renown for his contribution in developing the period table of elements, and through this he was able to infer and determine the properties of several elements that had yet to even be discovered (1). Mendeleev was also the chief scientist behind the research and determination of vodka. Markovnikov discovered napthenes, and developed the addition rule in organic chemistry that is now known as Markovnikov’s rule. Butlerov was the mentor of Markovnikov, and was essentially the backbone behind the establishment of organic chemistry thanks to his contributions and book (1). The Russian chemistry brought to the world during this time period was scattered around, and a lot of huge contributions were brought in from more than just the Russian scientists. It was, however, the Russian scientists the paved the way in terms of establishing an order, rule, and determination for a lot of organic reactions and developing the periodic table.
(1). H.M. Leicester. The Historical Background of Chemistry, Dover Publications Inc, New York, USA, (1956) pp. 192- 218.