Russian Chemical Society on the Threshold of the 21st Century

President of the Russian Chemical Society,
academician A.I. Rusanov

"The Russian Chemical Society is being established at St. Petersburg University with the aim of promoting the success of all parts of chemistry and disseminating chemical knowledge" - with these words begins the Charter of the Russian Chemical Society, approved by the Scientific Committee of the Ministry of Public Education on October 26, 1868. From that day, the official activity of the Society began , but work on its creation has already been carried out over a number of previous years.

In the sixties of the last century, Russian chemists acutely felt the need for an organization that would enable closer professional communication, and most importantly, would have a printed organ for the publication of scientific works of scientists in Russian. All Russian chemical scientists agreed that such a chemical society should be created in St. Petersburg, where there was the most significant community of chemists (the second largest was in Kazan, the third in Moscow). Here is what the newspaper "Russian invalid" wrote on August 17, 1861: "A chemical society, in our opinion, is quite possible in St. Petersburg. Here live our most famous chemists, Voskresensky, Zinin, Mendeleev, Sokolov, Shishkov, Khodnev and Engelhardt, - and indeed in St. Petersburg, many young people are studying chemistry." (Note that when these lines were written, Mendeleev was 27, but he is already represented among the "famous", and not "young people", among whom was, for example, 19-year-old N.A. Menshutkin). It can be noted that the Council of St. Petersburg University (its rector at that time was the "grandfather of Russian chemistry" A.A. Voskresensky) and the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the university (there was no chemical department yet) were very favorable to the idea of ​​forming a chemical society at the university. With their support, it was already possible to storm the bureaucratic Everest of the Ministry. At this stage, which required a lot of energy, D.I. Mendeleev (he is actively assisted by N.A. Menshutkin) gradually becomes the protagonist of the process and regularly informs others about step-by-step progress. It can be said that the official establishment of the Chemical Society was also his personal success.

As scientist D.I. Mendeleev was first and foremost a physical chemist, and his dream was to unite chemists and physicists. Later, in 1878, the Russian Chemical Society was transformed into the Russian Physical and Chemical Society (RFCS) with two autonomous departments - physics and chemistry - and became even more important for Russian science. An extensive scientific library was created. The RFHO journal immediately stood on a par with the largest and most authoritative scientific publications in the world. With donations from its members and other organizations, RFHO formed a bonus fund.

The first president of the Chemical Society was N.N. Zinin, second - A.M. Butlerov, third - DI. Mendeleev. In the first year of its existence, the Chemical Society grew from 35 to 60 members and continued to grow steadily in subsequent years. It interestingly combined the features of a club (membership fees, admission only on the recommendation of three members, restrictions on visits by outsiders), a permanent chemical seminar (Mendeleev alone made a total of 90 reports in the chemical department of the Society) and a scientific publishing house. The latter was the most difficult task and required large financial assistance, which began to be provided by the universities of St. Petersburg - the University, the Technological Institute, the Mining Institute, the Artillery Academy, etc. Note that after the death of D.I. Mendeleev University buys the personal archive of the scientist from his family and creates in 1911 a memorial office (Museum-Archive) of Mendeleev (which still exists in the main building of the university), and RFHO establishes the Mendeleev Congresses on General and Applied Chemistry. The first three congresses (in 1907, 1911 and 1922) were held in St. Petersburg (Petrograd).

The revolution and post-war devastation did not change the nature of the Society's activities, although they introduced many difficulties. Lenin's government tried to rely on scientific and technical societies in the restoration of the economy. In 1918, a new statute of the Society was adopted, in which the RFHO was again established at Petrograd University and had jurisdiction over the entire territory of the RSFSR, becoming a wide open organization. In July 1918 RFHO received 70,000 rubles from the state for the resumption of activities and the publication of works. Later, however, financial difficulties increased. In 1919, the publication of the RFHO Journal had to be suspended, and it was resumed only in 1924 after the appeal of the President of the RFHO D.P. Konovalova to the Council of People's Commissars. Later, in 1929 and 1930, the Supreme Economic Council and the Committee for Chemicalization of the USSR allocate significant subsidies for the publication of the RFHO Journal and the reorganization of Mendeleev's memorial office at Leningrad University.

An important act in the resumption of the Society's activities after the Civil War was the organization of the III Mendeleev Congress, which was held in the building of the Chemical Laboratory of Petrograd University (now the Mendeleev Center). Opening the congress on May 25, 1922, N.S. Kurnakov noted that "many persons could not arrive in Petrograd due to the difficulties of modern movement." Nevertheless, there were 406 delegates at the congress, and the reports made presented an impressive panorama of chemical science. In the future, RFHO actively participates in state affairs (up to the creation of a trade union of chemists), in the creation of a Russian-language chemical nomenclature and in the development of a plan for the chemicalization of the country.

In 1931, a wave of reorganizations swept over the scientific and technical societies and the RFHO ceased to exist. Its successor should be considered the Leningrad Scientific Research Chemical Society (in fact, the chemical section of the RFHO), its presidents were N.S. Kurnakov and A.E. Favorsky. In 1937, the Leningrad Chemical Society became part of the All-Union Chemical Society. DI. Mendeleev (VHO), created in 1932 by the decision of the VI Mendeleev Congress in Kharkov (its first president was A.N. Bach). It should be noted that the creation of the WMO was carried out widely and with great support from the authorities, who apparently felt by that time the importance of influencing science.

The charter of the WHO, approved by the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on March 20, 1935, established the following main tasks of the society: "a) studying the problems of chemicalization of the national economy, directly related to the key issues of socialist construction in the USSR; b) promoting the development of research thought in all areas of chemical science based on the Marxist-Leninist worldview; c) promoting the systematic use of all areas of chemical science to meet the needs of socialist construction and strengthen the country's defense capability. The charter also noted that control over the activities of the WHO is carried out by the Committee for the Management of Scientists and Educational Institutions under the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, in 1938 this role was transferred to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

By that time, the Academy of Sciences had moved to Moscow and was increasingly turning into the Ministry of Science, taking over many of the functions of scientific societies - the publication of scientific journals (the Journal of the Russian Chemical Society was transformed into the Journal of General Chemistry of the USSR Academy of Sciences), the organization of scientific events, the preparation of recommendations to the government, etc. P. The Academy of Sciences more and more shielded the WMO, the role of which was objectively declining. To a lesser extent, this was felt in Leningrad, where the spirit and traditions of the Society did not actually change.

Among the new measures, the most significant was the establishment in 1941 of the annual Mendeleev readings (the first Mendeleev reader was VG Khlopin). During the years of the blockade, when books and furniture served as the main heating material, the employees of the Leningrad branch of the WMO managed to keep intact the main material value of the WMO - its library.

For the Chemical Society named after D.I. Mendeleev - an officially revered scientist in the country - sometimes played the role of a guardian angel. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his death in 1947, a government decree was issued that saved the memorial office of the great scientist from desolation: it was turned into a regular institution - the Museum-Archive of D.I. Mendeleev at the Leningrad University. Serious research work began to study the creative heritage of D.I. Mendeleev. In the same decree, the library of the Academy of Sciences was instructed to maintain the library of the WMO with staff and complete its funds on a gratuitous basis, so that the connection between the WMO and the Academy of Sciences was even more strengthened. True, since 1950, the WMO library had a long period of wandering around different rooms before it returned to its native land in 1987.

A.N. Bach was president of the WCO for life (from 1933 to 1946) and was the first to prove the possibility of combining the posts of Academician-Secretary of the Department of Chemical Sciences of the USSR Academy of Sciences and President of the Chemical Society (later this experience was successfully repeated A.V. Fokin). Two big anniversaries fell on his time - the 100th anniversary of the birth of D.I. Mendeleev in 1934 and the 75th anniversary of the WMO and the Periodic Law in 1944 (celebrated jointly), which could not but attract the attention of the government of the country. In 1936 A.N. Bach spoke at the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR with a report on the work of the WHO, after the approval of which the WHO and its Moscow branch were allocated premises in Moscow. The next event was the entry into the All-Union Scientific Engineering and Technical Society of Chemists, as a result of which the society not only increased noticeably, but also began to include not only scientists.

A.N. Bach as president of the WHO became MM. Dubinin(from 1946 to 1950, when he was elected academic secretary, he was replaced by V.M. Rodionov). We obtain information about the number of WMOs of that time from "Communications on the scientific work of members of the WMO named after D.I. Mendeleev", vol. 1 for 1948, where an appeal to I.V. Stalin on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of October: "The remarkable successes of socialist construction, the daily assistance of the party and government, and yours personally, dear Joseph Vissarionovich, ensured an unprecedented flourishing of science and a powerful development of industry in our country. These exceptionally favorable conditions allowed the WMO to significantly develop its activities and bring the number of members to 6,000 by uniting them in 36 local branches organized in various regions of the Union."

So, in 1948, the Chemical Society had 6,000 members, and this was perceived as a significant achievement. Indeed, if compared with 60 members in 1869, then over the 82 years of its existence, the Society has grown 100 times, despite significant human losses during the wars. On the other hand, the size of the Society was obviously much less than the total number of people involved in chemistry in the USSR. This testified to the predominantly scientific character of the Chemical Society at that time: the spirit and principles laid down by the founders of the Society still continued to exist.

This was put to an end on December 24, 1954 by a resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On Scientific Engineering and Technical Societies". It, among many other remarks, in particular, about the weakening of ideological work, noted that scientific and technical societies (STOs) did not become "genuinely mass" organizations of scientific and technical workers and innovators in production. A coherent management scheme for the NTO was developed: the party - the trade unions - the NTO, and the NTO were directly subordinate to the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. The sectoral trade unions were glad and proud that they were leading science to some extent. For party functionaries, work in the NTO has become completely unprestigious. We remembered the functionaries not in vain: a gigantic increase in the number of members of the NTO was coming (by the end of the 70s, it reached 550 thousand people in the WHO) and a corresponding increase in the administrative apparatus. The NTO had its own bureaucracy.

These changes and the beginning of the restructuring of the work of the Society fell on the fleeting presidency of I.L. Knunyants ( 1954-1956) after the death of V.M. Rodionov. A new statute of the WMO was developed with a detailed study of various areas of activity, and after the rubber and rubber industry joined the WMO VNITO, the technical bias in the Society increased noticeably. In the new charter, the word "board" was first mentioned (in the former Soviet era, the Society was led by an "organizing committee" or "council"), and the first chairman of the board of the WHO was I.P. Losev- a scientist of a more applied direction than the academic I.L. Knunyants, who focused on the work of the scientific journal of the Society.

As a result of this reform, the WMO turned from a scientific into a scientific and technical society and approached the sectoral NTOs, while still being very different in spirit from them. This also had its positive aspects. First, the WMO expanded its scope and went beyond pure science, where it was largely shielded by the Academy of Sciences. Secondly, the ministries of the chemical profile began to transfer (by order from above) significant funds for the maintenance of the WMO, which made it possible to create permanent staff, send members of the WMO on business trips, and establish awards and competitions. The state took the NTO on its own, but also transformed them in the image and likeness of a socialist public organization: with primary organizations (subordinate to trade union committees) and democratic centralism with an annual planned target for the growth of its ranks.

I.P. Losev and who replaced him in 1963. S.I. Volfkovich turned out to be presidents of the WMO for life. Worked quietly under the auspices of the trade unions and with budget support, until some major event brought the WMO to the surface of public life. Usually these were the Mendeleev congresses, held on a large scale every 4-5 years as a review of the achievements of domestic chemistry. It should be noted, however, that after a huge break of 25 years (from 1934 to 1959) in holding congresses, the leading role in the new series of congresses began to be played by the Academy of Sciences as a state structure of the highest scientific qualification (a number of interested ministries were also involved), moreover this position was brought during the years of stagnation to almost complete unity of command. By this time, the role of the party had been absolutized to the limit, and therefore a separate resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU for each congress was a guarantee of success, ensuring, on the one hand, the congresses were crowded and a high circle of keynote speakers, and, on the other hand, the diligence of the local party leader during the congress in the regions. All this brought undoubted benefits to the Chemical Society, although relegated to the shadows.

Anniversary congresses were organized especially solemnly and with the invitation of honorary foreign guests, one of which was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of A.M. Butlerov, was held in Kazan in 1928 (later the Butlerov Readings were established in Kazan by the Tatar branch of the WHO), and three others were held in Leningrad: the VII Anniversary Mendeleev Congress, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of D.I. Mendeleev, in 1934; The X Anniversary Mendeleev Congress, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Periodic Law, in 1969 and the XIII Anniversary Mendeleev Congress, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of D.I. Mendeleev, in 1984. The latter was already held with the new president of the WMO A.V. Fokin, who came to this post immediately after the death of S.I. Volfkovich in 1981 and remained devoted to the Chemical Society until the very last days of the WCO after the collapse of the USSR.

150th anniversary of D.I. Mendeleev was marked by a joyful event for the WMO - the creation of the Mendeleev Center at Leningrad University. The Chemical Society and Leningrad University jointly prepared a draft decision of the USSR government on this issue, and it was adopted in 1982. By that time, it became possible to return the Chemical Society to the building of the Research Institute of Chemistry (the building of the Chemical Laboratory of St. Petersburg University), which after that became known as the Mendeleev Center. In May 1984, by the beginning of the congress, the renovated Museum-Archive of D.I. Mendeleev and the first stage (right wing) of the Mendeleev Center, where the board of the Leningrad branch of the Chemical Society entered. The second stage (left wing) of the Mendeleev Center - a room for the library of the All-Union Chemical Society - required extensive restoration work and was put into operation only in 1987, and all the work was carried out at the expense of the All-Union Chemical Society.

At the same time, the office of the chemical society in the Mendeleev Center was being equipped: a large bronze bust of Mendeleev by the sculptor L.K. Lazarev, and the artist Yu.N. Sukhorukov in two years created a monumental mosaic panel in the meeting room of the board, immortalizing in stone the greatest chemists of the St. Petersburg school since the founding of the Society. Many things from the apartment of V.E. were transferred there by the university. Tishchenko (who lived in the same building as the closest and, perhaps, the most selfless associate of D.I. Mendeleev in the chemical society). All of them have been carefully restored by the Chemical Society.

The creation of the Mendeleev Center is difficult to overestimate. It really is the center of chemical life in St. Petersburg, and not only in this city. For example, Novosibirsk chemists usually hold conferences on catalysis at the Mendeleev Center. The center also has important representative functions for the university: the British ambassador to the USSR (who, by the way, offered chemists to invent unbreakable porcelain), the consul of India in St. Petersburg, a delegation from Stockholm University, the president of the American Chemical Society and many other officials have been here.

The Mendeleev Center is working at full capacity even in our difficult days. If we draw an analogy between the incomparably more difficult crisis period after the civil war and the current state of the economy, then the advantage of the former is revealed: then the NTOs were very necessary for the state, and now the state does not need them in the least. Deprived of state subsidies, many NTOs have lost the ground under their feet and the meaning of their existence. This is especially true of those NTOs that were created artificially only to match the existing branches of the national economy of the USSR. It must be said that the WMO showed its relatively high survival rate and even set a longevity record after the collapse of the USSR, formally existing until 1993, when it announced its dissolution during the XV Mendeleev Congress in Minsk.

Even earlier, in 1992, in Rostov-on-Don, the WCO organized the founding conference of the Russian Chemical Society. DI. Mendeleev (RHO) as the successor of the WMO in Russia. President-organizer, and then the first president of the RCS for the period 1992-1995. became Yu.A. Zolotov, second president (since 1995) - the author of these lines. At the congress in 1993 in Minsk, the Federation of Chemical Societies named after V.I. DI. Mendeleev, designed to replace WMO in the new conditions. The Federation does not receive contributions from its members, and the headquarters of this organization in Minsk exists at the Academy of Sciences of Belarus thanks to the selfless care of its first (from 1993 to 1995) president I.I. Lishtvan. In fact, some activity is shown in the federation by the countries participating in the Bialowieza agreements, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are symbolically designated. And yet the existence of the federation is fundamentally important: let it help us not to forget each other and orient us towards better times.

How and on what to live the Society further? Let us recall that the Chemical Society already existed under capitalism. From its first charter we learn that, firstly, the members of the Society paid considerable membership dues (10 rubles per year), and, secondly, "for the development of the society's funds, donations are accepted from members, outsiders and institutions, which are published in protocols." Now we know that the first sponsors of any organization are its founders. The founders of the Russian Chemical Society in 1868 were private individuals with a fairly high income, because they were scientists and professors. Even according to the data of 1913, a university professor received 4,500 rubles a year, one of the most stable currencies in the world: - 300 rubles more than a deputy of the State Duma, and 5 times more than the most skilled worker (what train drivers were then). Under those conditions, when the number of the first composition of the RCS was insignificant, and the level of all kinds of donations from its members (up to the formation of bonus funds) was high, and the Society did not have full-time employees, the funds contributed were quite enough for its functioning at first.

The founders of the new RChO in Rostov differ significantly in their financial capabilities from the founders-forefathers, although, I recall, they demonstrated, presumably, no less enthusiasm. But, most importantly, we have not yet felt ourselves in a new world, where it is customary to start any new business with an estimate. A reasonable proposal to introduce into the charter a valid (with a high fee) and associated membership in the RCS did not pass then, and now we have to return to it again.

Nevertheless, the charter of the modern RMO reflects the principles laid down in the first charter. The bottom line is that the Chemical Society now lives on voluntary contributions, both membership and sponsorship. However, in order to receive them regularly, the Society must convincingly demonstrate its usefulness.

The main "commodity" of any scientific society is information, and in the example of the American Chemical Society, with its annual budgets of several billion dollars, we see how much can be achieved along this path. The American Chemical Society publishes a lot of scientific journals (in our case, this function is carried out by the Russian Academy of Sciences), but the main information publication is Chemical & Engineering News.

Now the RCS has its own, albeit modest, analogue - the bulletin "Chemistry in Russia", published since last year (editor V.N. Parmon) and becoming more and more popular. The members of the Society who receive it are keenly interested in the subsequent numbers, and this indicates that we are on the right track. Of course, this publication is not profitable, but costly, but it's nice to think that sponsors' expenses are beneficial here.

As for the "Journal of the All-Union Chemical Society named after D.I. Mendeleev" (the origins of this journal come from the first printed organ of the Russian Chemical Society, founded in 1869 by D.I. Mendeleev), then in 1993 its successor was the "Russian chemical journal. At present, despite the great difficulties with funding, this magazine is published regularly, preserving the main traditions of its predecessor.

It is especially difficult for regional RMO organizations to prove their usefulness. The greatest (even unique) opportunities have the St. Petersburg branch, which free of charge provides its members with the use of an excellent library and the premises of the Mendeleev Center. But in a number of other regions (for example, in Tatarstan), where they begin to work correctly with their members and sponsors, things are moving towards improvement, although we still need to learn a lot about this (first of all, work with sponsors).

There are also great difficulties in the work of the board of the RCS in Moscow. The once numerous apparatus of the central government was reduced to three people, and the premises at 12 Krivokolenny Street (earlier - a whole floor) - to two rooms (with a high rent for one of them). Within the limits of its strength, a small team works selflessly for the whole of Russia and has passed through the tests of recent years thanks to the energy and authority of the executive director and vice-president of the RCS V.F. Rostunov.

It should be noted that in Moscow there is also the board of the Moscow Chemical Society as part of the Russian Chemical Society. Although Moscow provides, in all likelihood, half of the potential members of the Chemical Society in Russia, the existence of the apparatus of the two boards in Moscow, in the current financial situation, is an unaffordable luxury, and it would be rational for them to voluntarily merge into a common apparatus of the two boards.

Huge work on the line of the board of the RCS is carried out by the first vice-president P.D. Sarkisov. Thanks to his efforts, it seems that the issue of a new office for the board of the RCS and the creation of a professional chemical library for members of the RCS in Moscow is being resolved. Taking this opportunity, I want to thank other vice-presidents, members of the presidium and the board of the RCS for their selfless work for the benefit of domestic chemistry.

According to the latest registration, the number of members of the RCS is approaching two thousand. In practice, we have already reached the size of the WCO in 1935, or, for example, the size of the modern Swiss Chemical Society, and this is already not bad. The potential opportunities of the RCS, as well as of Russia itself, remain among the highest in the world, which allows us to look to the future with optimism.