1070-4272/01/7411-1977$25.00C2001 MAIK [Nauka/Interperiodica]

Russian Journal of Applied Chemistry,Vol. 74, No. 11,2001, pp. 197731979. Translated from Zhurnal PrikladnoiKhimii, Vol. 74, No. 11,2001, pp. 191331915.Original Russian Text CopyrightC 2001 by Morachevskii.

HISTORY OF CHEMISTRYÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ

AND CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY

Scientific, Pedagogical, and Public Activitiesof Professor N.N. Sokolov

(to 175th Birthday Anniversary)

One of honorable places in the history of thedomestic chemical science of the XIX century belongsto Nikolai Nikolaevich Sokolov, a talented scientistand pedagogue, organizer of scientific investigations,founder of the first Russian chemical journal.

N.N. Sokolov was born on December 13, 1826, inYaroslavl province into a merchant’s family. Havingentered, when being very young, St. Petersburg Uni-versity, he graduated from the then existing cameraldepartment of the faculty of law, and later, in 1847,from the natural department with a candidate degree.At that time, chemistry was taught at the Universityby a known scientist and excellent pedagogue,A.A. Voskresenskii (180931880), who graduated in1836 from the Central Pedagogical Institute in St. Pe-tersburg and worked in 183631837 at the laboratoryof J. Liebig (180331873) at Giessen University(Germany).

In 1848, to complete his education, Sokolov wentabroad and, at first, also worked at Liebig’s laboratoryand carried out quite a number of investigations there.He, in particular, studied the behavior of creatinine inproducts of vital activity of herbivorous animals andbirds. Together with A. Strecker (182231871), Lie-big’s co-worker, he synthesized hippuric acid, con-verted it into benzoglycolic acid, and for the first timeobtained glycolic acid by its hydrolysis (Ann. Chim.,1851). At the same place, at Giessen University,Sokolov studied crystallography and mineralogyunder supervision of Prof. H.F. Kopp (181731892).Sokolov retained interest in crystals and minerals forhis whole life. In 1852, Nikolai Nikolaevich moved toParis and began investigations at the laboratory ofProf. C.-F. Gerhardt (181631856) who in his time(183631837) was taught by J. Liebig in Giessen.Charles Gerhardt and another French chemist, AugusteLaurent (180731853), made an outstanding contribu-tion to the development of the atomic-moleculartheory. In his book Introduction to Study of Chemis-try by the Unitary System (1848), Gerhardt substan-tiated a novel concept of the molecule as an indivis-ible integrated system of atoms,[unitary system,] and

clearly distinguished the concepts of atom, molecule,and equivalent. He established that radicals do notexist independently, being rather groups of atoms,whose combination forms molecules. Sokolov com-pletely adopted these and other new, by that time,concepts of French scientists and, owing to him,chemistry was taught in Russia in the framework ofthe new scheme already in the late 1850s, earlier thanin other countries, including France [1].

In Paris, Sokolov also worked at the chemicallaboratory of Henri Regnault (181031878), an organicchemist, also a representative of Liebig’s school, anda foreign corresponding member of the St. PetersburgAcademy of Sciences (since 1848).

In 1854, Sokolov returned to Russia and started towork at the Mining School (Mining Institute since1866; founded in 1773) in St. Petersburg as teacher ofmineralogy and curator of the mineralogical museum.In 1855, on the instructions of the Mining Departmenthe traveled across the Urals and exhibited muchinterest in minerals formed in metallurgical processes.

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1978 MORACHEVSKII

In 1857, he defended master of chemistry’s disserta-tion in this field.

In 1857, Sokolov organized, together with A.N. En-gel’gardt (183231893), the Russia’s first privatepublic chemical laboratory, at which all comers couldperform investigations for a relatively small fee. En-gel’gardt graduated from Mikhail Artillery College;in 185331865, he headed the chemical and foundrylaboratories of the St. Petersburg Arsenal; in 186631870, he was a professor of chemistry at the St. Pe-tersburg Agricultural Institute (transformed intoForestry Institute in 1877; later, Forestry Academy).

Sokolov and Engel’gardt’s chemical laboratoryexisted for three years and was closed in 1860; thelaboratory equipment was passed, without compensa-tion, to St. Petersburg University, where Sokolovhimself started to work, too.

In May 1859, Nikolai Nikolaevich successfullybacked at St. Petersburg University his doctoral(Chem.) dissertation[Treatise of Hydrogen in OrganicCompounds.] The dissertation contained a vast ex-perimental material and was a major contribution tothe development of organic chemistry of fatty com-pounds. The author described for the first time syn-

thesis of glyceric acid by glycerol oxidation, con-sidered alcohol oxidation processes in general, andpointed to different functional features of hydrogenin organic compounds. As mentioned in memoirs ofN.A. Menshutkin (184231907) [2], the concept of dif-ference between hydrogen atoms is especially im-portant. It was shown for the example of four acids:glycolic, b-hydroxypriopionic, lactic, and glyceric,that part of hydrogen atoms in hydroxy acids hasacidic, and another part, alcoholic nature, with therelative amounts of these parts in the mentioned acidscorrectly determined.

In 1859, Sokolov and Engel’gardt started to pub-lish Russia’s first periodical in the field of chemistry:Khimicheskii zhurnal N.N.Sokolova i A.N. Engel’-gardta (Chemical Journal by N.N. Sokolov andA.N. Engel’gardt). During the two years of its exist-ence, 4 volumes containing 6 issues each were pub-lished. The journal published both original articlesand abstracts in Russian of the most interesting worksof foreign authors, reports on dissertation presenta-tions, and other information of value for chemists.The journal, in particular, published Sokolov’s exten-sive fundamental paper[On Modern Directions inChemistry,] the full text of his doctoral dissertation,experimental works of the leading Russian chemistsD.I. Mendeleev (183431907), N.N. Beketov (182731911), A.M. Butlerov (182831886), and N.N. Zinin(181231880). To the first Russian journal was devotedYu.S. Musabekov’s work [3].

In September 1860, as a member of the Russiandelegation together with Mendeleev, Zinin, A.P. Bo-rodin (183331887), and other scientists, Sokolov tookpart in the First International Chemical Congress inKarlsruhe (Germany). The Congress clearly distin-guished the fundamental notions of chemistry (thoseof molecule, atom, equivalent, and valence). Sokolovand Engel’gardt were members of the initiative groupwhich organized the Congress.

In view of Mendeleev’s going to a business tripabroad in 1860, Nikolai Nikolaevich was invited toSt. Petersburg University as privatdocent, and thenextraordinary professor, to deliver lectures in organicchemistry. Warm recollections of these lectures werewritten by Menshutkin [2], who studied at the univer-sity at that time. Sokolov managed to do much to ex-pand the experimental facilities of the chemical labor-atory at the university, but, unfortunately, because ofdeteriorated health, he had to go to southern Europefor treatment already in 1862.

The scientist continued his pedagogical and scien-tific activities at the end of 1864 in Odessa, where

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SCIENTIFIC, PEDAGOGICAL, AND PUBLIC ACTIVITIES OF PROFESSOR N. N. SOKOLOV 1979

Novorossiya University was opened at the beginningof 1865. In May of the same year, a chair of chemistrywas organized at the university, and Sokolov was in-vited there as its first professor [436]. The chair con-ducted courses in inorganic, organic, and analyticalchemistry. During his relatively short stay in Odessa(186431871), Sokolov, with gusto characteristic ofhim, created and provided with equipment the chemi-cal laboratory at the university, making it the best inRussia, so that a new center of domestic chemicalscience emerged in Russia. The closest Sokolov’s as-sociate was A.A. Verigo (183731905), who became adocent in 1866, extraordinary professor in 1871, andhead of the chemical laboratory at Novorossiya Uni-versity in 1873. A known chemical school formed inOdessa, to which belonged, in particular, V.M. Petria-shvili (184531908), S.M. Tanatar (184931917),P.G. Melikishvili (185031927), N.D. Zelinskii (186131953), and P.I. Petrenko-Kritchenko (186631944).

In Odessa, Sokolov performed a number of ex-perimental studies. In particular, he continued studiesof lactic acid, commenced in St. Petersburg. In 1871,Nikolai Nikolaevich left the chair of chemistry at No-vorossiya University and returned, on completing histreatment, to St. Petersburg, where he started teachingat the Agricultural Institute in 1872, having replacedEngel’gardt at the chair of chemistry. This period ofscientist’s life was described in recollections of hisclosest associates P.A. Lachinov (183731891) andM.G. Kucherov (185031911) [7, 8].

Nikolai Nikolaevich Sokolov died on July 13, 1877,at the age of 51. The Russian Physicochemical Soci-ety, whose member Sokolov was from the time of itsfoundation, set up in 1880 the N.N Sokolov Prize tobe awarded to Russian scientists for outstanding worksin the field of chemistry. The prizes wee awardedtill1888. The first of these was awarded in 1882 to Men-shutkin for his work in the field of chemical kinetics:[Effect of Isomerization of Alcohols and Acids onFormation of Esters.] In 1883, the Sokolov Prize wasawarded to G.G. Gustavson (184331908), professor ofPeter’s Agricultural and Forestry Academy in Moscowfor studies of reactions involving organic compoundsin the presence of aluminum halides. In 1885, theprize was awarded to M.G. Kucherov for the discoveryand investigation of reactions between acetylenehydrocarbons and mercury compounds. In 1888, theprize was awarded for the last time to A.E. Favorskii(186031945) for the discovery and investigation ofisomerization of acetylene hydrocarbons.

Detailed evidence concerning Sokolov’s life andactivities can be found in works by Musabekov [3, 9]

and N.S. Kozlov [10]. His role in the development ofdomestic chemistry was discussed in a monograph byYu.I. Solov’ev [11].

In a paper devoted to the history of the chair ofchemistry at Leningrad University (181931939) [12],Academician V.E. Tishchenko (186131941) namedSokolov [one of the most talented Russian chemists,with his pupils having the warmest recollections ofhim.] Sokolov’s activities were highly appreciatedby K.A. Timiryazev (184331920): [Hardly any otherteacher... has been equipped with such a full know-ledge of modern science, had such broad views, anddemonstrated such exuberant versatile activities asN.N. Sokolov. Brilliant, ingenious, with a somewhatskeptical mind and implacable logic, he was a profes-sor in the finest sense of the word] [10]. NikolaiNikolaevich Sokolov can be rightfully regarded asone of the most prominent chemists of the second halfof the XIX century.

REFERENCES

1. Arbuzov, A.E., Izbrannye raboty po istorii khimii(Selected Works on the History of Chemistry), Mos-cow: Nauka, 1975.

2. Menshutkin, N.A.,Zh. Ross. Fiz.-Khim. O3va., 1878,vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 8315.

3. Musabekov, Yu.S.,Materialy po istorii otechestvennoikhimii (Materials on the History of Domestic Chemis-try), Moscow: Akad. Nauk SSSR, 1953, pp. 2883302.

4. Markevich, A.O.,Dvadtsatipyatiletie imper. Novoros-siiskogo universiteta(Twenty-Fifth Foundation An-niversary of Imperial Novorossiya University), Odes-sa, 1890.

5. Turchenko, Ya.I.,Osnovnye puti razvitiya obshchei,neorganicheskoi i fizicheskoi khimii na Ukraine(MainDirections of Development of General, Inorganic, andPhysical Chemistry in the Ukraine), Kiev: Kiev. Gos.Univ., 1957.

6. Razvitie neorganicheskoi khimii na Ukraine(Develop-ment of Inorganic Chemistry in the Ukraine), Goro-dyskii, A.V., Ed., Kiev: Naukova Dumka, 1987.

7. Lachinov, P.A.,Zh. Ross. Fiz.-Khim. O3va., 1878,vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 15321.

8. Kucherov, M.G.,Zh. Ross. Fiz.-Khim. O3va., 1892,vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 5673614.

9. Musabekov, Yu.S.,Zh. Prikl. Khim., 1949, vol. 22,no. 11, pp. 113331142.

10. Kozlov, N.S., Usp. Khim., 1953, vol. 22, no. 1,pp. 1193128.

11. Solov’ev, Yu.I., Istoriya khimii v Rossii(History ofChemistry in Russia), Moscow: Nauka, 1985.

12. Tishchenko, V.E.,Priroda, 1939, no. 7, pp. 1023106.

A. G. Morachevskii