Nikolai Nikolaevich Zinin, an outstanding Russian organic chemist, academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, the first president of the Russian Chemical Society, was born on August 13 (25), 1812 in the capital of the Karabakh Khanate, Shusha, beyond the Caucasus, on the border with Persia (now - on the territory of Nagorno - Karabakh Republic).

His father carried out the assignment of Russian diplomacy, apparently connected with the negotiations on the annexation of Karabakh to Russia. In the same place in Shusha, shortly after the birth of his son, he and his wife died of cholera. The child was left in the hands of adult sisters, but the epidemic did not spare them either: the sisters died, but the boy, to the surprise of the neighbors, recovered. Zinin was sent to Saratov to live with his uncle.

In 1830, he entered the mathematical department of the philosophical (later physical and mathematical) faculty of Kazan University as a state student (such students, who did not have the means to study, lived at the university and, upon graduation, were required to serve in the public service for six years).

Nikolai Zinin graduated from the university in 1833 and received a Ph.D. and a gold medal for the submitted essay “On the perturbations of the elliptical motion of the planets”, after which he was left at Kazan University to teach physics, and from 1834 he was also entrusted with teaching mechanics.

Since 1835, Zinin also taught a course in theoretical chemistry. The history of this appointment is interesting. As can be seen from the above, Nikolai Nikolayevich was not specifically interested in chemistry, he taught mathematical sciences, and considered himself primarily a mathematician. However, in those years, chemistry was taught at Kazan University extremely poorly, a seminarian by education, a certain adjunct Dunaev, was in charge of it. University rector mathematician N.I. Lobachevsky decided that a talented young scientist would be able to bring the Department of Chemistry to a level worthy of such an educational institution. Zinin bowed to Lobachevsky and did not dare to refuse him, as a result, Russian science received a brilliant chemist, the founder of a scientific school.

In the same year, Zinin brilliantly passed the exam for a master's degree in physical and mathematical sciences. As a topic for his master's thesis, the University Council offered him a chemical topic: "On the phenomena of chemical affinity and on the superiority of Berzelius's theory of constant chemical proportions over the chemical statics of Berthollet." In 1836, Zinin defended his dissertation and received a master's degree in physical and mathematical sciences.

In 1837, Nikolai Nikolayevich was appointed adjunct in the department of chemistry, and in the spring of the same year, at the request of the university trustee M.N. Musin-Pushkin was sent to study abroad. First, Zinin went to Berlin, where he studied chemistry with E. Mitscherlich and Rose, while studying with K. Ehrenberg, T. Schwann and Johann Müller; then he worked in other laboratories of outstanding scientists of that time: in Paris - with Jules-Theophile Peluza, in London - with M. Faraday, in Hesse - with Professor J. Liebig.

In 1839, Zinin published an article in the most authoritative journal in the field of organic chemistry, Liebig's Annalen der Chemie, in which he reported on a new method he had found for converting bitter almond oil into benzoin, and a year later the second article by a Russian chemist on benzoic compounds was published there. connections. These works, presented in Russian, constituted Zinin's doctoral dissertation, which he defended after returning to Russia in 1840, receiving a doctorate in natural sciences. The title of the dissertation was formulated as follows: "On the compounds of benzoyl and on the discovered new bodies belonging to the benzoyl series."

In 1841, Zinin was approved as an extraordinary professor in the department of technology. He remained in Kazan until 1847, when he received an invitation to serve in the capital - as a professor of chemistry at the St. Petersburg Medical and Surgical Academy, where he worked first as an ordinary professor (1848-1859), then as an academic .), Honored Professor (1864-1869), then "Director of Chemical Works" (1864-1874)

In 1865 N.N. Zinin was elected an academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Studying the chemical nature of substances by oxidation and reduction methods, in 1841 he developed methods for obtaining benzoin from benzaldehyde and benzyl by the oxidation of benzoin. This was the first case of benzoin condensation - one of the universal methods for obtaining aromatic ketones. In 1841, the scientist synthesized benzyl (diphenylglycolic) acid for the first time, described its properties and established its composition. In 1842 N.N. Zinin discovered the reduction reaction of aromatic nitro compounds, which served as the basis for a new branch of the chemical industry - anilo-paint. In this way, aniline and α-naphthylamine (1842), μ-phenylenediamine and deoxybenzoin (1844), benzidine (1845) were obtained.

Here is just a brief enumeration of the scientific achievements of the outstanding Russian chemist:

• He discovered the rearrangement of hydrazobenzene under the action of acids - the "benzidine rearrangement".
• He showed that amines are bases capable of forming salts with various acids.
• Received allyl ester of isothiocyanic acid - "volatile mustard oil" - based on allyl iodide and potassium thiocyanate.
• He established that when this oil interacts with aniline, allylphenylthiourea is formed.
• Investigated derivatives of the allyl radical, synthesized allyl alcohol.
• Received dichloro- and tetrachlorobenzene, tolan and stilbene, etc.

Joint work of N.N. Zinina with a young artillery engineer V.F. Petrushevsky led to the solution of the problem of obtaining and using the strongest explosive - nitroglycerin. Zinin developed the most advanced method for the synthesis of nitroglycerin from glycerol using concentrated nitric acid, low temperature, etc. When in 1853 the combined Anglo-French-Turkish army landed in the Crimea and the war took on a protracted character, Zinin did everything to ensure that the Russian army was armed with the most powerful explosives. He proposed filling grenades with nitroglycerin, developed a method for obtaining large quantities of nitroglycerin and a method for blowing it up. However, his proposals were not implemented by the artillery department. Only in 1863-1867. nitroglycerin began to be successfully used for underground and underwater explosions.

In Kazan and St. Petersburg, Zinin trained a whole galaxy of talented organic chemists who made many important discoveries. He was an excellent lecturer. A.M. Butlerov said about him: “... anyone who heard him as a professor or as a scientist ... knows what a wonderful lecturer he was Zinin: his lively, figurative speech always vividly depicted in the imagination of the listeners everything he expounded; high, as it were, slightly noisy tone, extremely distinct diction, an amazing ability to show the important sides of the subject in relief - all this captivated the listeners, constantly awakened and strained their attention. Together with L.L. Voskresensky N.N. Zinin became the founder of a large school of Russian chemists. Among his students were A.M. Butlerov, N.N. Beketov, A.P. Borodin and others.

Zinin was an honorary member of many Russian and foreign scientific societies, academies and universities, a member of the French a Academy of Sciences, Berlin and London chemical societies. It was Zinin's work that to a large extent caused the recognition of the Russian chemical school abroad.

In 1868, together with D.I. Mendeleev, N.A. Menshutkin and others. Nikolai Nikolaevich became the organizer of the Russian Chemical Society and for ten years was its president. In 1880, this society established the Prize. N.N. Zinina and A.A. Resurrection.

Nikolai Nikolayevich died on February 6, 1880 from kidney disease, and was buried at the St. Petersburg Smolensk cemetery. Reporting on his death at a meeting of the German Chemical Society, the famous chemist A. Hoffmann said: “If Zinin had done nothing more than convert nitrobenzene to aniline, then even then his name would have remained written in golden letters in the history of chemistry.”

We are talking about the famous “Zinin reaction”, about which Butlerov, in turn, responded as follows: “The enormous technical significance of this discovery, made in the interests of pure science, serves as the best answer to the question often heard in the public about what benefit this can bring. or some other scientific study that has no utilitarian value at the moment.”

August 13 (August 25, new style), 1812 was born Nikolai Nikolaevich Zinin- an outstanding Russian organic chemist, academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1858), the first president of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society (1868-1877).

N.N. Zinin became widely known as an outstanding Russian theoretical chemist, scientist, teacher, creator of a whole school of organic chemists, who during the 19th-20th centuries ensured the glory of Russian science. The theoretical developments and discoveries of Zinin formed the basis of many profitable and well-known foreign projects and enterprises. However, Zinin himself, in most cases, was assigned only the role of "giver" or "inspirer" of a very successful idea, which was implemented by other, less talented, but more enterprising people.

Zinin was born in the city of Shusha, Elizavetpol province (now Nagorno-Karabakh). His father, Nikolai Ivanovich Zinin, was in the Caucasus on a diplomatic mission. During the epidemic that raged there, Zinin's parents and his older sisters died. The early orphaned child was taken to Saratov to his uncle. In 1820, he was sent to the gymnasium, where throughout the years of study he impressed teachers with an excellent memory and great capacity for work.

In 1830, a talented young man came to Kazan to enter the university. He did not have the funds for education, and Zinin became a state student in the mathematical department of the philosophical (later physical and mathematical) faculty. “Kazonkoshtnye students” in those days did not pay tuition, but they lived on the territory of the university and, in addition to studying, had to perform small administrative positions at the departments of the university. At the end of the course, they were required to serve in the public service for 6 years.

In his student years, Zinin successfully studied mathematics and astronomy under the guidance of professors N. I. Lobachevsky and I. M. Simonov. The professors immediately noted his unique abilities and appreciated his great desire not only to get a university degree, but to seriously engage in science. Already in 1833, Nikolai Zinin received a candidate's degree and a gold medal for the submitted essay "On the perturbations of the elliptical motion of the planets." He was left at Kazan University to teach mathematics and physics. Since 1835, Zinin began to read a course in theoretical chemistry. In the same year, he brilliantly passed the exam for a master's degree in physical and mathematical sciences. As a topic for a master's thesis, the University Council proposed to the mathematician Zinin a chemical topic: "On the phenomena of chemical affinity and on the superiority of Berzelius's theory of constant chemical proportions over the chemical statics of Berthollet." It was in the process of preparing a master's thesis that classes in chemistry seriously fascinated the young scientist. In 1836, Zinin successfully defended his dissertation and received a master's degree in physical and mathematical sciences.

In the spring of 1837, at the request of the trustee of the university, M. N. Musin-Pushkin, Master Zinin was sent to study abroad. For three years he worked in the best chemical laboratories in Europe: in Berlin with Professors E. Mitscherlich and G. Rose, in Hesse with Professor J. Liebig, in Paris with Professor J. Peluza, in London with M. Faraday.

Returning to Kazan, Zinin defended his doctoral dissertation in organic chemistry: "On benzoyl compounds and on discovered new bodies belonging to the benzoyl series." The scientist was the first to obtain benzoin by the condensation of benzaldehyde in the presence of potassium cyanide and benzyl (diphenyldiketone) by the oxidation of benzoin with nitric acid. In his dissertation, Zinin came close to modern concepts of catalysis, described the participation of a catalyst in the intermediate stages of the reaction, and clearly distinguished between two phenomena, which are now called homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis.

In 1841, Zinin was approved as an extraordinary professor in the department of chemical technology at Kazan University. There were very few scientists-chemists of such a class as Zinin in Russia, and perhaps in Europe at that time. Thanks to his efforts, Kazan University in the 1840-50s became the "cradle" of Russian organic chemistry. Together with A.A. Voskresensky, Zinin brought up a whole galaxy of Russian chemists in Kazan, who subsequently made a huge contribution to the development of domestic science: A.M. Butlerov, N. N. Beketov, A. P. Borodin, L. N. Shishkov, A. N. Engelgardt, and others. By reducing nitrobenzene with hydrogen sulfide, in 1842 he managed to synthesize aniline. Prior to that, it was obtained by Yu. F. Fritzsche from indigo dye. Now aniline could be produced on an industrial scale. In 1844, using the reducing effect of ammonium sulfide on dinitro compounds, Zinin obtained naphthylenediamine and phenylenediamine. Thus, a general method was discovered for the preparation of amine derivatives from organic nitro compounds. These works laid the scientific foundation for the development of the aniline-dye industry, opened a new era in the industrial production of synthetic dyes, new pharmaceuticals, explosives and fragrant substances. In other words, the Russian chemist Zinin discovered the reduction reaction of aromatic nitro compounds.

In the same 1844, the German scientist A.V. Hoffmann modified (rather, simply improved) the method of obtaining aniline from nitrobenzene, discovered by Zinin. He replaced the ammonium sulfide with another reducing agent, hydrogen, at the time of isolation. Based on the modified method, it was Hoffmann who first organized the industrial production of aniline. In 1858, a German scientist synthesized the dye aniline red (magenta) and established its composition. On the basis of Zinin's developments, he also found out the structure of some other coloring substances and received a number of triphenylmethane dyes, which are still widely used for industrial purposes. Hoffmann never disputed Zinin's priority in these researches, he simply managed to profitably "sell" his inventions, and Zinin had no choice but to declare that "the Germans always steal discoveries from under our noses" ... A similar fate befell Zinin's theoretical developments in the field of explosives and the use of nitroglycerin.

In 1847, Professor N.N. Zinin received an invitation to join the service in St. Petersburg to head the Department of Chemistry at the Medical and Surgical Academy. Here he worked as an ordinary professor from 1848 to 1859, as an academician from 1856, then as an emeritus professor (1859-1864), and finally as a "director of chemical works" (1864 to 1874).

Zinin combined his professorship at the academy with many public duties. In different years he was the academic secretary, member and chairman of the academic court, in 1864 and 1866 he temporarily managed the Academy. From 1848 he was a member of the manufacturing council of the Ministry of Finance, and from 1855 a member of the military medical scientific committee. Zinin was a very efficient person. He was able to successfully combine teaching at the academy, administrative work and work in the laboratory. In addition, he still found time to fight with various government officials, trying to use his discoveries for the benefit of the state or to find applications for them in industrial production.

The joint work of Zinin with the young artillery engineer VF Petrushevsky led to the solution of the problem of obtaining and using the strongest explosive - nitroglycerin. Zinin and Petrushevsky were the first to develop the most advanced method for the synthesis of nitroglycerin from glycerol using concentrated nitric acid, low temperature, etc.

During the Crimean War (1853-1856), Zinin tried to convince military officials to use his inventions for the benefit of the Russian army: to fill grenades with nitroglycerin, to test methods for its explosion during hostilities, and even tried to develop a method for obtaining nitroglycerin in the field. However, his ideas did not meet with understanding and were not implemented by the artillery department. Only in 1863-67, during the military reforms of Alexander II, nitroglycerin began to be successfully used for underground and underwater explosions.

It is known that it was Zinin who “thrown” the idea of ​​​​inventing dynamite to Alfred Nobel. Working with Petrushevsky to develop an explosive composition that was safe to transport, Russian chemists found a good option: impregnating magnesium carbonate with nitroglycerin. Zinin once told his dacha neighbor Alfred, the son of Emmanuel Nobel, the owner of a mine factory, about this in a private conversation. The idea was useful to A. Nobel a few years later. During the transportation of nitroglycerin, one of the bottles broke, and the liquid soaked infusor earth, poured between the bottles to prevent possible impact. Nobel, recalling Zinin's stories that powdered substances should be impregnated with nitroglycerin, quickly assessed the properties of the resulting composition. So dynamite was invented, which brought huge profits to Nobel. Having learned about the “discovery” of the country neighbor, the chemist Zinin again had no choice but to state an indisputable fact: “This Alfred Nobel snatched dynamite from under our noses” ...

However, even if Zinin himself invented dynamite, it is possible that Russia, with its slow bureaucracy and eternal bureaucratic obstacles, would still buy it abroad from the same Alfred Nobel. Russian organic chemistry remained a "theoretical" science until the fall of the notorious "Iron Curtain" between the country of the Soviets and the West.

In 1855, Zinin was approved as an adjunct of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and ten years later he was elected its ordinary academician. In 1868, Zinin, together with D. I. Mendeleev, N. A. Menshutkin and other leading professors of the academy, organized the Russian Physical and Chemical Society and for ten years was its president. Thanks to the numerous works and discoveries of Zinin, "Russian chemistry" for the first time took its rightful place in the scientific world. Zinin was an honorary member of many Russian and foreign scientific societies, academies and universities. The Russian Physical and Chemical Society established the N. N. Zinin and A. A. Voskresensky Prize for the best independent work in the field of chemistry.

However, with all the external well-being and undoubted creative successes, academician Zinin, according to the memoirs of his contemporaries, was deprived of peace of mind. Oddly enough, but the famous chemist regretted all his life that he had taken up this “practical” science. Zinin considered himself more wealthy as a theoretical scientist, seriously regretted that in his youth he became interested in chemical research and abandoned mathematics, for which, according to his teacher Lobachevsky, he had an undoubted gift.

Until the last days, Zinin's favorite pastime was reading various mathematical works. N.N. died. Zinin February 18, 1880 in St. Petersburg.

It is possible that the conflict between the realized chemist-Zinin and the unrealized talent of Zinin-mathematician was provoked precisely by the insufficient ability of the scientist to test the results of his scientific research. For him, in most cases, this was done by others, perhaps less talented, but more "practical" people. They also made financial profits from their enterprises.

And the only financially profitable "enterprise" of Zinin was his marriage to Elisaveta Alexandrovna Medyntseva, who came from a family of well-known Moscow textile manufacturers and Old Believers. A profitable marriage at one time allowed the scientist to calmly engage in science, without thinking about "daily bread." The unrealized talent of a mathematician was subsequently embodied in one of the sons of the great scientist. His younger son Nikolai (1854-1910) really became an outstanding Russian mathematician, organizer and first rector of the Don Polytechnic Institute.

Elena Shirokova based on the materials of "School Chemistry",
Wikipedia

Nikolai Nikolaevich Zinin was born in the Caucasus, where his father, Nikolai Ivanovich Zinin, was on a diplomatic mission. During the epidemic that raged in the Caucasus, Zinin's parents and his older sisters died. Zinin was sent to Saratov to live with his uncle. In 1820 he entered the gymnasium, during his studies he showed high efficiency, showed himself to be a talented child.

Studies

In 1830 he came to Kazan, and entered the mathematical department of the philosophical (later physical and mathematical) faculty as a state student (students who did not have the means to study; they lived at the university and upon graduation were obliged to serve in the public service for 6 years). The mathematician N. I. Lobachevsky, the astronomer I. M. Simonov, and the university trustee M. N. Musin-Pushkin quickly drew attention to him.

Zinin graduated from the university in 1833 and received a candidate's degree and a gold medal for the submitted essay "On the perturbations of the elliptical motion of the planets", after which he was left at Kazan University to teach physics, and from 1834 he was also entrusted with teaching mechanics. From 1835, Zinin also taught a course in theoretical chemistry. The history of this appointment is interesting. As can be seen from the above, Zinin was not specifically interested in chemistry, he taught mathematical sciences, and considered himself primarily a mathematician. However, in those years, chemistry was taught at Kazan University extremely poorly, the seminarian by education, adjunct Dunaev, was in charge of it. Lobachevsky decided that a talented young scientist would be able to bring the Department of Chemistry to a level worthy of such an educational institution. Zinin bowed to Lobachevsky and did not dare to refuse him, as a result, Russian science received a brilliant chemist, the founder of a scientific school.

In the same year, Zinin brilliantly passed the exam for a master's degree in physical and mathematical sciences. As a topic for his master's thesis, the University Council offered him a chemical topic: "On the phenomena of chemical affinity and on the superiority of Berzelius's theory of constant chemical proportions over the chemical statics of Berthollet." In 1836, Zinin defended his dissertation and received a master's degree in physical and mathematical sciences.

After the transformation of the university in 1837, he was appointed adjunct in the department of chemistry, and in the spring of the same year, at the request of Musin-Pushkin, he was sent to study abroad. First, Zinin went to Berlin, where he studied chemistry with E. Mitscherlich and Rose (two well-known chemists brothers Heinrich and Gustav Rose worked in Germany at that time), while studying with K. Ehrenberg, T. Schwann and Johann Müller; then he worked in other laboratories of outstanding scientists of that time: in Paris with Jules-Theophile Peluza, in London with M. Faraday, for more than a year (1839-1840) in Hesse with Professor J. Liebig.

Zinin's first article was published in Liebig's Annalen, in 1839 Zinin reported on a new method he had found for converting bitter almond oil into benzoin, in 1840 Zinin's second article on benzoin was published in Liebig's Annalen. connections. These works, presented in Russian, constituted Zinin's doctoral dissertation, which he defended after returning to Russia in 1840, receiving a doctorate in natural sciences. The title of the dissertation was formulated as follows: "On the compounds of benzoyl and on the discovery of new bodies belonging to the benzoyl series"

Further biography

In 1841, Zinin was approved as an extraordinary professor in the department of technology. He remained in Kazan until 1847, when he received an invitation to serve in St. Petersburg as a professor of chemistry at the Medical and Surgical Academy, where he worked first as an ordinary professor (1848-1859), then as an academician (since 1856), honored professor (1864-1869), then "director of chemical works" (1864-1874)

Zinin combined his professorship at the academy with many other duties: for twelve years (1852-1864) he was an academic secretary, for two years (1869-1870) he was a member and for two years (1871-1872) he was chairman of the academic court. Twice (in 1864 and 1866) he temporarily managed the academy. From 1848 he was a member of the manufacturing council of the Ministry of Finance, from 1855 - a member of the military medical scientific committee. After founding at the Academy of Women's Medical Courses, Zinin read physics there in 1873-1874.

In 1855 he was elected an adjunct of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, from 1858 - an extraordinary academician, from 1865 - an ordinary academician.

In 1868, together with D. I. Mendeleev, N. A. Menshutkin, and others, he organized the Russian Chemical Society and for ten years was its president (until 1878).

Zinin's activities were often accompanied by scientific trips: to the Caucasus to study mineral waters, to the Crimea to study mud (1852), abroad - to study the organization of modern chemical laboratories, in connection with the establishment of a new academic laboratory (1860), to the Paris exhibition - as jury member (1867). His latest research relates to amary acid and its homologues. In the autumn of 1878, Zinin developed the first bouts of illness, which led to his death in 1880.

Scientific achievements

Zinin was the first to obtain benzoin by the condensation of benzaldehyde in the presence of potassium cyanide and benzyl by the oxidation of benzoin with nitric acid. In 1842, Zinin discovered the reduction reaction of aromatic nitro derivatives to aromatic amines by the action of ammonium sulfide (see Zinin's reaction). In this way, in 1842, Zinin synthesized aniline, which had previously been obtained by Yu. F. Fritzsche from the indigo dye, and also α-naphthylamine. From that moment on, aniline could be obtained on an industrial scale. Later he showed the generality of his reaction, obtaining by the same method m-phenylenediamine by the reduction of m-dinitrobenzene (1844) and m-aminobenzoic acid by the reduction of m-nitrobenzoic acid (1845). In 1844 he obtained deoxybenzoin by the same method. Acting with ammonium sulfide on azobenzene, Zinin synthesized hydrazobenzene, which was rearranged into benzidine by the addition of sulfuric acid (1845). Syntheses of Zinin served as a scientific basis for the creation of the industry of synthetic dyes, explosives, pharmaceuticals, fragrances, etc.

In 1845, Zinin discovered the rearrangement of hydrazobenzene under the action of acids - the "benzidine rearrangement". He showed that amines are bases capable of forming salts with various acids.

In 1854-1855, Zinin described the ureides (urea derivatives) discovered by him, synthesized, independently of Berthelot and de Lucas, artificial mustard oil (allyl ester of isothiocyanic acid) based on allyl iodide and potassium thiocyanate, and studied its interaction with amines to form the corresponding thioureas. He established that when this oil interacts with aniline, allylphenylthiourea is formed. Received (1852) allyl ester of isothiocyanic acid - "volatile mustard oil" - based on allyl iodide and potassium thiocyanate. Investigated derivatives of the allyl radical, synthesized allyl alcohol. Received (1860s) dichloro- and tetrachlorobenzene, tolane and stilbene. Studied (1870s) the composition of lepiden (tetraphenylfuran) and its derivatives.

From 1857 to 1860 he made studies of acetylbenzoin and benzoylbenzoin, some derivatives of naphtholidin and azooxybenzide. Since 1860, all Zinin's works have already been related to derivatives of bitter almond oil and benzoin. In 1861, Zinin reported the introduction of hydrogen into organic compounds, and in 1862, hydrobenzoin, a product of the action of hydrogen on bitter almond oil, and deoxidized benzoin. In 1863 Zinin described nitrobenzyl, in 1864 the effect of hydrochloric acid on azobenzide, in 1866 the effect of caustic potassium on benzoin in the absence of air, in sealed tubes; obtained lepiden by the action of hydrochloric acid on benzoin, and the product of its oxidation is oxyleniden and the breakdown is dibromolepiden. In 1867 in Paris, Zinin presented to the local academy and published an article in Comptes rendus: "On some facts relating to substances of the stilbene series." From 1870 to 1876, Zinin's work focused on the study of lepiden and its derivatives. His last major work is devoted to "amaric acid and its homologues".

Joint work of Zinin with a young artillery engineer V.F. Petrushevsky led to the solution of the problem of obtaining and using the strongest explosive nitroglycerin. Zinin developed the most advanced method for the synthesis of nitroglycerin from glycerin using concentrated nitric acid, low temperature, etc. armed with the most powerful explosives. He proposed filling grenades with nitroglycerin (1854), developed a method for obtaining large quantities of nitroglycerin and a method for blowing it up. However, his proposals were not implemented by the artillery department. Only in 1863-1867 nitroglycerin began to be successfully used for underground and underwater explosions.

Zinin Scientific School

Zinin, together with A. A. Voskresensky, still in Kazan created a large school of Russian chemists (A. M. Butlerov, A. P. Borodin, N. N. Beketov, L. N. Shishkov, A. N. Engelhardt). As indicated above, Zinin actively participated in the organization of the Russian Chemical Society (now the All-Russian Chemical Society named after D. I. Mendeleev).

Awards and scientific recognition

In 1880, the Department of Chemistry of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society established the A.I. Zinin and Voskresensky for the best independent work in the field of chemistry. Zinin was an honorary member of many Russian and foreign scientific societies, academies and universities, a member of the French Academy of Sciences, Berlin and London chemical societies. It was Zinin's work that to a large extent caused the recognition of the Russian chemical school abroad.

Personal qualities

With all the external well-being and undoubted creative success, Zinin, according to the memoirs of his contemporaries, was deprived of peace of mind and irritated in those cases where other scientists would have shown sincere interest.

The German scientist A. Hoffmann managed to modify the method for obtaining aniline from nitrobenzene, discovered by Zinin. Hoffmann replaced ammonium sulfide with another reducing agent - hydrogen at the time of isolation. On the basis of a modified method, he organized the industrial production of aniline, which caused an irritated reaction from Zinin, the priority of which no one disputed: "The Germans are always stealing discoveries from under our noses."

Investigating nitro derivatives, Zinin, together with V. F. Petrushevsky, began work on the creation of an explosive composition based on nitroglycerin, safe for transportation. As a result, a good option was found - impregnation of magnesium carbonate with nitroglycerin. Zinin told about this to his dacha neighbor Alfred Nobel, the son of Emmanuel Nobel, the owner of a plant for the production of mines. The idea was useful to A. Nobel a few years later. During the transportation of nitroglycerin, one of the bottles broke and the liquid soaked infusor earth, poured between the bottles to prevent possible impact. Nobel, who probably remembered Zinin's stories that powdered substances should be impregnated with nitroglycerin, quickly assessed the properties of the resulting composition, which was later called dynamite and brought him huge profits. Having learned all this, Zinin remarked: "This Alfred Nobel snatched dynamite from under our noses."

However, there is no reason to believe that Zinin was conceited and morbidly jealous of the successes of his colleagues. Most likely, the lack of internal harmony is the result of an intuitive feeling that in another area - in mathematics - he might have been able to achieve more. Until the last days, his favorite pastime was reading various mathematical works.

08/13/1812 - 02/08/1880), Russian organic chemist, founder of a scientific school, first president of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society. Graduate of Kazan University.

He was the first to synthesize aniline (by the method of reduction of aromatic nitro compounds, the so-called Zinin reaction), laying the foundations for the production of synthetic dyes, fragrances and drugs (1842). For the first time in the world he received urends (1854). He did a lot of work on the study of nitroglycerin as an explosive and tried to introduce it into the military equipment of the Russian army during the Sevastopol defense.

Among the students and employees of Zinin are: A.M. Butlerov, A.P. Borodin, N.N. Beketov, A.N. Engelhardt.

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Zinin Nikolai Nikolaevich - famous Russian chemist (1812 - 1880). He studied at Kazan University, where he was noticed by the mathematician Lobachevsky and the astronomer Simonov. In 1837 he was appointed an adjunct in the department of chemistry and sent abroad, listened to chemistry from Mitscherlich and Rose in Berlin, while studying at the same time with Johann Müller, Ehrenberg and Schwann, then with Liebig in Hesse. He received a doctorate in natural sciences for his dissertation "On benzoyl compounds and discovered new bodies belonging to the benzoyl series" (1840), after which he took the department of technology at Kazan University. In 1847 he was appointed professor of chemistry at the Medical and Surgical Academy, where he served as scientific secretary for 12 years and which he temporarily ruled twice. He was an ordinary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. When the Russian Chemical Society was founded (in 1868), Zinin was elected its president and held this rank for 10 years. After founding at the Academy of Women's Medical Courses, Zinin taught physics there (1873 - 74). He explored mineral waters in the Caucasus, mud in the Crimea (1852), set up a new academic laboratory (1860). Zinin's works relate to benzoic compounds. In his first article, published in Liebig´s Annalen, in 1839, Zinin reported on a new method he had found for converting bitter almond oil into benzoin (a note submitted to the Academy of Sciences two months before his death was devoted to the disintegration benzoin during distillation and some transformations of benzoin derivatives). In 1840 Zinin's second article on benzoic compounds was published in Liebig's Ann. These works, presented in Russian, constituted Zinin's doctoral dissertation. Zinin discovered compounds of mustard oil with amines and found a method for the artificial formation of mustard oil, independently of Berthelot and de Luca. Three works appeared in Kazan, of which the first (1842) brought to the scientific world the famous reaction of the transformation of nitro compounds into amide derivatives with the help of hydrogen sulfide - a reaction that occupies such an important place in laboratories and in the production of aniline dyes. In this article, Zinin described "naphthalides" (now naphthylamine) and "benzides", which Fritzsche recognized as aniline. The second work concerned "seminaphthalidam" (naphthylenediamine) and "semibenzidam" (phenylenediamine), the third - "benzamic" (amidobenzoic) acid. In 1852, Zinin completed his work on the compounds of amines with mustard oil, on the reduction of azobenzene with sulfuric acid, on the preparation of benzidine from azooxybenzene, and on the preparation of "seminaphthalidam" in a pure state. In 1854, Zinin's work appeared on "combined ureas", "on the artificial formation of volatile mustard oil", in 1855 - on some bodies of the propylene (allyl) series. With this work, Zinin established the analogy of "propylene" with ethyl. From 1857 to 1860 he made studies of acetylbenzoin and benzoylbenzoin, some derivatives of naphtholidin and azooxybenzide. Since 1860, all Zinin's works have already been related to derivatives of bitter almond oil and benzoin. In 1861, Zinin reported on the introduction of hydrogen into organic compounds, in 1862 on hydrobenzoin, a product of the action of hydrogen on bitter almond oil, and deoxidized benzoin. In 1863, Zinin described nitrobenzyl, in 1864 - the effect of hydrochloric acid on azobenzide, in 1866 - the effect of caustic potassium on benzoin in the absence of air, in sealed tubes; obtained lepiden by the action of hydrochloric acid on benzoin, and the product of its oxidation is oxyleniden and the breakdown is dibromolepiden. In 1867, in Paris, Zinin presented to the academy there and published in its "Comptes rendus" an article: "On some facts relating to substances of the stilbene series"". From 1870 to 1876, Zinin's work was aimed at studying lepiden and its derivatives. His last major work is devoted to ""amaric acid and its homologues"". These numerous works and discoveries of Zinin for the first time forced foreigners to take the place of honor of "Russian chemistry"; Zinin's name took a prominent place in the lists of members of various scientific institutions. Zinin's biography was compiled by two of his closest students, A.M. Butlerov and A.P. Borodin, published in the XII volume of the Journal of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society; there is also a complete list of Zinin's works, published mainly in the bulletins of the Academy of Sciences and in the "Journal of the Russian Physical-Chemical Society".

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Zinin, Nikolai Nikolaevich

Scientist and professor, academician of the Petrograd Medical-Surgical Academy, full member of the Academy of Sciences, professor of Kazan University and the Medical-Surgical Academy, Privy Councilor, holder of orders up to the White Eagle inclusive.

Zinin was born in Shusha on August 13, 1812. His parents soon died, as did his two older sisters; a lonely boy was taken in by an uncle who lived in Saratov; N.N.’s youth passed here, and here he was educated at the gymnasium. In terms of his abilities and successes, he stood out sharply among his comrades, who often turned to him for help, especially in Latin, which N.N. knew perfectly. Information about disputes has been preserved. arranged between N. N. and the best Latinist of the Saratov Theological School; in these debates, N. N. always remained the winner. The gymnasium authorities considered him the best student, and the teachers always challenged him to answer in the presence of honorary visitors to the gymnasium; the governor of Saratov was present at one of the exams and was so impressed by the answers of N.N. that he himself proposed several questions, to which he received equally excellent answers.

N. N. had great physical strength and loved to do gymnastics. While still at the gymnasium, he often made botanical excursions, sometimes lasting for whole days; this love of the natural sciences undoubtedly had a great influence on his later life. After graduating from the gymnasium, N. N. began to prepare for admission to the Institute of Railway Engineers; but the death of his uncle forced him to abandon this plan and choose Kazan University, which was more accessible for his modest funds, to continue his education.

In 1830, N. N. entered the mathematical department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. At that time, at Kazan University, as in other recently opened provincial universities, the main attention was paid to the humanities, while the natural sciences were in the background; but at Kazan University mathematics and astronomy were well established and were taught by well-known European professors. Therefore, it is not surprising that N. N. became interested in studying mathematics under the guidance of Nick. I. Lobachevsky; he studied astronomy with Professor Simonov. The professors drew attention to the outstanding talents of N.N., as well as the then trustee of the Kazan educational district - Mikh. Nick. Musin-Pushkin (later trustee of the Petrograd educational district), whose children N. N. gave lessons. On June 30, 1832, N.N. received a gold medal "for excellent, good progress and behavior." Chemistry at that time was being read by Yves. Iv. Dunaev - both theoretical and technical. Judging by the programs of his courses, the theoretical teaching of chemistry was relatively well established; but practical work was almost completely absent, and only from 1832 were mandatory classes in "chemical practice" were arranged, twice a week for 2 hours. The laboratory of Kazan University at that time was located in the main building and was equipped with everything necessary.

Apparently, at the university N. N. was also diligently engaged in chemistry, although no information about this has been preserved; but there is no doubt that the thorough chemical training he received here allowed him to subsequently advance precisely as a chemist. He completed the course (three years at that time) on June 24, 1833, with a Ph.

After graduating from the university, N.N. was offered to go to Dorpat to prepare for a professorship at the professorial institute there; but he preferred to stay in Kazan and, at the suggestion of the professor of physics Knorr, was appointed on September 9, 1833 as a tutor to the professor of physics. As an outstanding mathematician, N. N. was then entrusted with the teaching of analytical mechanics, and from that moment (March 5, 1834) he was in active public service. For this teaching, the university thanked him, and on September 7, he began to teach more hydrostatics and hydrodynamics, and, in addition, astronomy; he also conducted magnetic observations.

As already mentioned, during the student years of N. N. chemistry at Kazan University was read by one professor I. I. Dunaev. In 1833 and 1834, a competition was appointed for the free department of chemistry, but to no avail: the essays submitted for the competition remained unapproved. Probably, this circumstance was the reason that N. N. was entrusted on August 12, 1835 with the teaching of pure chemistry, to help I. I. Dunaev. Even before that, N. N. began to intensively prepare for the exam for the degree of master of physical and mathematical sciences and began to take it in the spring of 1835.

The master's examination at that time was carried out much more strictly than now: on the first day of the examination, April 17, 1835, N. N. was asked 18 questions in various branches of mathematics; On the 18th there was a written test, and the answers were written by N.N. within seven days, under the supervision of one of the members of the faculty. April 26 - oral exam in applied mathematics; 27th - written, the answer to questions required three days; May 3 - oral test in astronomy (13 questions); 4th - written, completed in three days. Finally May 13 - oral in chemistry (9 questions); 17 - written, and two questions were asked: about saltpeter and its chemical compounds with acid and about carbon and its compounds with acid. The answer was written only by May 22. After the successful completion of all these tests, the faculty proposed the following topic for a dissertation: "On the phenomena of chemical affinity and on the superiority of Berzelius's theory of constant chemical proportions over Berthollet's chemical statics." This work (apparently not preserved) was probably made by N.N. in the former small laboratory of Kazan University, since the construction of a new chemical laboratory began on September 19, 1834 and was completed in 1837. The dispute took place on October 31, 1836 and ended with N. N. being awarded the degree of master of natural sciences.

In the meantime, a new university charter was introduced in 1835, I. I. Dunaev was dismissed "for reform" and K. K. Klaus, invited from Dorpat, an outstanding chemist, who became known mainly for his studies of the Ural platinum metals, took over the chair of chemistry. chemical laboratory of Kazan University. Upon receiving a master's degree, N.N. was elected an adjunct in the department of chemistry, approved on August 1, 1837 and sent on a business trip abroad for two years with a scientific purpose in preparation for a chemical professorship; the posting was subsequently continued for another year.

Staying abroad had a huge impact on N. N. First of all, he stopped in Berlin, where at the university he listened to the natural sciences, especially chemistry from Mitcherlich and Rose, and diligently attended their private lectures and worked in the laboratory. In the spring of 1838, he visited the universities in Giessen, Zurich, Munich, Halle, Prague, and by winter he returned to Berlin again to study with Professor Ehrenberg, Schwan, I. Müller; he was also interested in medicine, under the influence of his comrades - Russian doctors - visited clinics and hospitals.

In the spring of 1839, he moved to Giessen, to Liebig, where he studied organic chemistry and worked for a whole year under the direction of Liebig in his laboratory: thus, N. N. must be considered a student of the Giessen chemical school, which gave so many famous people. The first studies he published were made in this laboratory and provided material for his doctoral dissertation. At the same time, he did not leave other branches of the natural sciences, got acquainted with anatomy, physics, and technology. In 1840, N. N. visited the universities of Alsace, Switzerland, southern France, then worked for several months in Paris with Professor Peluz, and from there returned to Petrograd in the fall.

With the permission of the Minister of Public Education, N. N. remained in Petrograd to be tested at the local university for a doctorate. Already on January 30, 1841, he defended his doctoral dissertation "On benzoyl compounds and on new discovered bodies belonging to the benzoyl series" and was approved on March 6 as a doctor in natural sciences.

Upon his return to Kazan, N.N. was approved as an extraordinary professor on June 5, 1841 and as an ordinary professor on December 15, 1845. Despite the fact that he was entrusted with the department of chemical technology, he read more theoretical than technical chemistry, the latter exclusively in the mathematical department, 2 hours a week; N. N. was the first in Kazan to begin teaching a course in analytical chemistry - at both departments of the Faculty of Mathematics - and in addition he taught general chemistry at the cameral department of the Faculty of Law and during the year a special course of animal bodies for the fourth year of natural scientists. For the 1847-1848 academic year, N. N. and K. K. Klaus divided the teaching of chemistry among themselves so that the first took organic, and the second inorganic chemistry; but in the same year, on January 6, N.N. left Kazan University, and this teaching program was not implemented.

He devoted a lot of time to N. N. and to work in the chemical laboratory of Kazan University, which since 1838 was located in a new separate building, in seven rooms on the ground floor, and, as K. K. Klaus said, could boldly compete with foreign laboratories; but the premises soon turned out to be too cramped, and its annual maintenance (444 rubles 28 kopecks in silver) and at that time was already completely insufficient. Under the guidance of N. N., students worked who did not only research on his topics, but also repeated other people's experiments, in which N. N. was interested for some reason. It goes without saying that with various experiments, the student had to get acquainted with various departments of organic chemistry, work all the time, together with the professor, which aroused and constantly maintained in the students a keen interest in the matter.

I cannot but give here a description of the work in the laboratory of N. N., belonging to his student A. M. Butlerov: was especially disposed, he often addressed with patriarchal unceremoniousness to "you"; but no one ever considered this address humiliating, it was heard not the boss's neglect, but kindred warmth. And the warmth of sincere relations, indeed, undoubtedly connected the professor with his students. Sometimes and young people got it from N. N. when they deserved it, and sometimes they got it not in words alone - half-joking abuse was accompanied by a mallet. he who tried usually had to repent.. Gifted with remarkable muscular strength, NN in such cases squeezed the enemy, as in a vise, and he got it pretty badly. All this was accompanied by laughter on both sides and those present ... Since in the morning, before lunch, N.N. was busy with his research and with his students, he could no longer have time to do organic analyzes at that time. For them, from time to time, special afternoons were set aside. In such cases, N.N. instructed the attendant in the morning to prepare furnaces and a supply of coal, went to dinner early, and at three o'clock was already set to burning in a special room, in the so-called white laboratory. Today's happy chemical youth, who use gas and have not experienced burning on coals, can hardly imagine clearly enough all the painstaking burden of such work, combined with the gradual, careful laying of burning coals. Without a coat, with a flushed face, and a chemical book or a magazine in his hands, N. N. sat at his work, and here, in the afternoon hours, visually learning the methods of analysis, we at the same time enjoyed to our heart's content, in the open, his living, interesting conversation."

Lectures by N. N. were a great success: lively, figurative speech vividly depicted in the imagination of the listeners what was being presented; high tone, distinct diction, the ability to highlight the important aspects of the subject - all this captivated the audience. Their attention was also riveted by the appearance of the professor: “his figure of medium height, broad-shouldered and broad-chested with an animated face, a lively penetrating look, with rather long black hair combed back from a high forehead and slightly to the right side, breathed energy; he usually spoke standing up and with from beginning to end kept the listeners under the spell of his speech.

At the same time, N.N. was a center around which not only chemists, but also those interested in the natural sciences in general, gathered, and he knew how to tell everyone something new, give a new point of view, and help with advice in their work. N. N. enjoyed the favor and respect of the Kazan society, as a Russian scientist who had real scientific merits behind him, for whom science was above all else, indifferent to any external differences.

During his stay in Kazan, in 1845, N. N. married an elderly widow who had two adult sons; from this marriage he had no children, and in a year or two he lost his wife. At the end of the forties, already after leaving Kazan, N. N. married a second time; family life gave him two sons and two daughters. Of the sons, one should name Nikolai Nikolaevich, a gifted mathematician who inherited his father's love for his beloved science.

On January 26, 1848, N. N. was elected an ordinary professor at the Petrograd Medical and Surgical Academy. Nine years before this, the academy was transferred from the Ministry of the Interior to the Ministry of War, under the Department of Military Settlements. This transition marked the beginning of a period of rapid development of the academy as a higher educational institution: this was facilitated both by a number of measures that raised its well-being, and by the invitation of many eminent professors from Russian universities. The latter was often opposed by the Minister of Public Education, Count S. S. Uvarov, but in the end the transition was always carried out thanks to the efforts of the Minister of War, Prince Al. Iv. Chernyshev. The initiative to invite university professors came from the academy conference; this way was used at that time mainly before the announcement of the competition for the vacant departments.

After moving to the Medico-Surgical Academy, N. N. quickly achieved that the teaching of chemistry in it corresponded to the then development of science and the dignity of a higher educational institution. He proposed that the conference read inorganic and analytical chemistry in the first year, and the chemistry of organic bodies with its application to physiology and pathology in the second. The department that N.N. occupied was officially the department of chemistry and physics; physics was read by the adjunct of this department A. A. Izmailov (3 lectures, 1½ hours a week); there were two lectures on inorganic chemistry and three one and a half hour lectures a week on analytical chemistry.

In his lectures, N. N. steadily pursued the point of view, which he always tried to adhere to in other areas of his academic activity, that medicine is the application of natural science to the issue of maintaining and restoring health; the natural sciences must therefore be paramount subjects, and the physician must mainly assimilate their general structure, methods and techniques of research. He believed that the main sciences in higher medical school should be chemistry and physics: therefore, the program of his course corresponded to the volume of the chemistry course at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the University, and he did not skimp on new ideas, developing them in his lectures with all his inherent talent.

As in Kazan, N.N. at the Medico-Surgical Academy always insisted on the need for students to work independently on some issue, fully understanding the importance of this for good assimilation and a correct assessment of the progress and development of science. But in practice this was not easy to implement - at least in chemistry; Here is how one of his students, A.P. Borodin, describes the situation in which N.N. worked: “30 rubles were allocated for chemistry a year, with the right to demand the same amount during the year. when in St. Petersburg it was impossible to find an assay cylinder for sale, when you had to make rubber bows yourself, etc. The academy's laboratory represented two dirty, gloomy rooms with vaults, a stone floor, several tables and empty cabinets. etc. often had to be done in the yard, even in winter. Organized practical exercises were out of the question. But even under these conditions, N. N. always had willing people to work. Five or six people always worked, at the personal expense of N. N. This went on until the early sixties ... Despite its ugliness, the laboratory was then a collection point for young scientists who regularly visited the hospitable owner of the laboratory. .. The laboratory turned into a miniature chemical club, into an impromptu meeting of the chemical society, where the life of young Russian chemistry was in full swing, where heated debates were held, where the owner, carried away by himself and captivating his guests, loudly, high tenor, passionately developed new ideas and, for lack of chalk and a board, he wrote with his finger on a dusty table the equations of those reactions, which were later given an honorable place in the chemical literature ... I vividly recall how N. N. used to bring propylene iodide to the laboratory ... and a dozen apples bought them in passing on the Sampsonievsky bridge and carefully tied in a handkerchief: a friendly treat to the student for help in work, so that it would not be boring. I vividly remember his cheerful, purely comradely, and for the most part always instructive conversations with students; friendly squabbles and even beaters when someone gapes during work, messes something up or says something stupid.

The great transformative reforms, which began after the accession to the throne of Emperor Alexander II, also affected the Medico-Surgical Academy. At the beginning of 1857, P. Al was appointed its president. Dubovitsky, under which a number of important transformations were made. N. N., as an indispensable secretary of the academy (he was such from 1852 for 12 years), together with vice-president I. T. Glebov, took an active part in the work of P. A. Dubovitsky, who sought to make the academy an exemplary higher a medical educational institution by creating three independent institutes: natural history, anatomical and physiological and clinical, whose activities would be directed towards one common goal - to the simultaneous parallel development and development of the natural and medical sciences. Thus the natural sciences were to play an important role in medical education; but at that time there were only two departments of these sciences: a) physics and chemistry and b) natural history. Therefore, already in 1858, 4 departments were established instead of them: a) chemistry, b) physics, c) comparative anatomy and d) botany. And to accommodate the relevant laboratories and offices, a new building was erected on the banks of the Neva, near the Liteiny Bridge - the Natural History Institute of the Medical and Surgical Academy.

To get acquainted with the latest laboratories and new trends in the teaching of natural sciences, N. N. was sent abroad, from April 27 to June 8, 1860; upon his return, a project was developed for the internal structure of the natural history institute by those professors who were supposed to have their own offices in it; 45,000 rubles were allocated for their equipment. Further, in pursuance of his program, A.P. Dubovitsky created an anatomical and physiological institute, and much-needed clinics and hospitals were rebuilt and partly rebuilt. He also paid special attention to teaching; Here, a very important measure was the formation of an institute of private teachers for lecturing, as well as the establishment of a medical institute, which annually enrolled the top ten physicians who completed the course (since 1865, the choice was made on the basis of a written competitive test).

In 1856, N. N. received the title of academician (the conditions for obtaining this title were: 10-year residency, outstanding teaching, new discoveries and work in his specialty). Here is how A. P. Borodin characterizes N. N. at this time: “Constantly overwhelmed with a mass of the most diverse business - laboratory scientist, educational, clerical, - overlaid with books, magazines, protocols, reports, etc., N. N., thanks to extraordinary vivacity, energy and a rare ability to use time, he managed to manage all this.Strong in spirit and body, always cheerful and cheerful, he knew how to divide his time between the audience, office, office, countless meetings, committees and commissions, moving continuously from one thing to another; rest for him actually consisted only in a change of occupation. With a mass of obligatory work, he always found time to read and follow, not to mention his specialty, the movement of the most diverse branches of knowledge, current literature, social life, etc. and, moreover, he managed to devote more time to anyone who needed him. a walking reference encyclopedia on various branches of knowledge. People turned to him for information about new discoveries in the field of chemistry, physics, technology, pharmacy, physiology, comparative anatomy, mineralogy, etc., for indicating literary sources on various scientific issues in general, for clarifying misunderstandings and contradictions in the scientific literature, - for topics for dissertations and scientific papers, - for practical advice on how to get around the difficulty in obtaining this or that product or in handling some new device, - finally, even for instructions on how to inject some kind of cancer, lizard or turtle, etc. People went to him for an assessment of the merits of a book that had just been published, when they had not yet had time to read it, knowing for sure that N. N. had already managed to look at it thoroughly. They also went to him for information about some article of the law, an order, a circular, an order of the minister, which none of the sworn lawyers knew, did not remember, did not understand or could not explain. Finally, they went to him for advice and on everyday issues, when it was necessary to help out a poor student or doctor, who was seized by need or over whom some kind of misfortune had befallen - in a word, when a person needed help, moral or material. "Extremely kind, humane, accessible to everyone and everyone, always ready to help in word and deed - N. N. never refused anyone. His warm concern for people, his desire and ability to help everyone, to bring possible benefit - his extreme ease of handling, friendliness, cordiality - soon made his name one of the most popular in the medical-surgical academy. He was amazingly able to inspire trust, love and respect. But if his personal qualities made him loyal friends, then his personal qualities made him many enemies, both as a person and as a leader. His passionate and ardent nature could not stand vulgarity, vanity, ignorance, mediocrity in anything, did not tolerate anything routine, petty, either in science or in life. His penetrating mind immediately guessed these elements, no matter how skillfully they were disguised and no matter how much authority they covered. Witty to the point of causticity, he aptly and mercilessly branded them wherever he met. He was able sometimes with a single word to dispel the thick fog of false learning and expose in all its nudity the mediocrity and ignorance that hid beneath it. Offended pride, debunked gods and their priests, of course, could never forgive him for this, and took revenge at every opportunity.

"A passionate patriot who deeply and intelligently loved Russia, who understood and took her interests to heart, N.N., in his position, first of all zealously defended the autonomy of Russian science and the mental development of the Russian person. Faced with administrative and social elements in his activities, personal sympathies or whose interests were at odds with his direction, he willy-nilly had to fight for principles dear to him.Whether he was victorious or defeated, with a shield or on a shield, he still made irreconcilable enemies for himself.And he was all the more hated by them. , who belonged to the remarkable fighters. Generously endowed with natural qualities - a lively, bright mind, resourcefulness, quick thinking, passion and energy, fully armed with knowledge, experience and brilliant dialectics - he was always a dangerous opponent. "

The department of chemistry, established among other new departments of natural sciences at the Medico-Surgical Academy, of course, was occupied by N. N.; in his first year he read inorganic chemistry twice a week, and in his second year he also read organic and analytical chemistry twice a week. Since 1862, he transferred the teaching of organic chemistry to A.P. Borodin. When a new chemical laboratory was opened in 1863, he taught students in analytical chemistry there. In 1864, after thirty years of service, N. N. vacated the Department of Chemistry, but by the Highest command he remained at the Medical-Surgical Academy as "director of chemical works", and until 1874 he supervised classes in analytical chemistry and laboratory work of senior students and doctors attached to the academy. In addition, at the request of the audience, he read a course in the history of chemistry - all the more interesting because N. N. himself was a participant in those reforms that in the 50s and 60s of the last century completely transformed this science and laid the foundation for an unprecedented development chemistry that continues to this day.

In the new laboratory of the Medico-Surgical Academy, N. N. almost did not work on his own research at all: he himself used to work in his home laboratory. “It was a tiny room at his private apartment on the Petersburg side. Installed with simple tables of various sizes, it was cluttered from top to bottom. goods, minerals, bottles, bricks, broken window panes, stationery, etc. All the tables were covered entirely with primitive chemical utensils of every kind, with scraps of filter paper underneath, on which the deceased used to write down his notes and the results of his experiments with a pencil. there were various home-made devices, made up of all kinds of tubes, cords, corks, apothecary jars and boxes - improvised cabinets, and, as a contrast, the necessary items of scientific luxury: Ertling scales, Schick's microscope, Hess's alcohol oven for organic analysis, aeolipil, which replaced soldering table.There were also jars with small animals in alcohol, wax trays, tools for dissection - witnesses that in N. N. the passion for comparative anatomy has not yet cooled down, to which he from time to time gave his leisure time and casually taught his students. The role of the traction cabinet was played by an ordinary Dutch oven and, to tell the truth, it performed poorly.

“It seemed that there was no place on the tables where to stick a small test tube; nevertheless, by the will of the owner, a place was always found for new similar devices and jars. No hand had the right to disturb order in this mess. And in such an archaic In this setting, the deceased did those elegant and amazingly accurate studies that opened the doors to the European academies with honor and put his name along with the largest names of Western chemists.

“However, students were allowed into this sanctuary of science when they needed to make burnings, precise definitions, etc. To come to N.N. analysis, to pass in passing a bunch of information on chemistry, physics, zoology, comparative anatomy, mathematics, etc. - information that sometimes could not be gleaned from any of the textbooks.

In early January 1874, N. N. was dismissed and left the Medical and Surgical Academy. In addition to the main points of his activity already mentioned in it, it can also be mentioned that, in addition to chemistry, he read mineralogy and geology from 1853 to 1859 after the departure of Professor Eichwald; participated in very many commissions, in 1852 he was sent with academician Dubasov to the Caucasus to study mineral waters and mud, took part in compiling the pharmacopeia, in 1856 he was elected an advisory member of the Medical Council, in 1851 - a member of the Society of Russian Doctors, an indispensable a member of the Military Medical Scientific Committee (1860), an honorary member of Kazan University (1860), a member of the Mineralogical, Free Economic and other scientific societies.

In 1855, R. Kh. Lenz, B. S. Jacobi, and Yu. F. Fritzsche offered N. N. an adjunct in the physics and mathematics class of the Imperial Academy of Sciences; On May 11, he was unanimously elected in the Physics and Mathematics Department, and on June 2, 1855, in the general meeting of the Academy of Sciences. An interesting note about the remuneration received by N.N. this year: as an adjunct of the Academy, he received 714 rubles. 80 kopecks, as a professor of the Medical and Surgical Academy 1428 rubles. 57 kop., as an indispensable secretary of her 285 rubles. and apartment 285 rubles. He was elected an extraordinary academician on May 2, 1858, an ordinary one - "in technology and chemistry adapted to the arts and crafts" - on November 5, 1865.

N. N. took an active part in all meetings of the Academy of Sciences and, thanks to his versatile knowledge, was a competent judge of all kinds of scientific reports. Academician N.I. Koshkarov, in his short speech dedicated to the memory of N.N. and delivered at a meeting of the Mineralogical Society, gives a typical example of this kind: “I once happened, before the start of an academic meeting, to talk with the late academician M.V. when suddenly N.N. : in a few words, he characterized the whole essence of one of the most difficult problems in mathematics.

In the fifties and sixties of the 19th century, the chemical laboratory of the Academy of Sciences was located in the main building of the Academy; N.N. almost did not work in it at all. After a fire that broke out in this laboratory during the work of Academician Yu. F. Fritsshe, it was decided to move it to a separate building, which was built according to the project of Yu. F. Fritsshe along the 8th line of Vasilyevsky Island (house 17). N.N. moved here after the opening of the laboratory in 1867 and lived here until his death. A.P. Borodin describes N.N. The most lively conversations took place in the study of the hospitable host on all sorts of current issues of science and life.In these conversations, the intellectual powers of the deceased were manifested in all their brilliance: extensive knowledge, well-read, amazing memory, bright original mind, passionate, heated speech, full of wit and peculiar humor.

“I vividly remember the office itself, extremely original in its furnishings. Here ... seemingly disorder reigned, pure chaos. In a modestly - or rather, poorly furnished room, piles of magazines, books, papers, instruments, etc. were heaped at random , on tables, windows, in cabinets, under cabinets, on chairs, under chairs, under a sofa, etc. Those who did not know the way of life of the deceased might have thought that N. N. had just moved into an apartment and had not yet had time to figure it out. In fact, it probably was so. Having once moved to an apartment, N. N. really did not have time at first, due to lack of time, to figure it out, but thanks to his excellent memory he soon got his bearings in this mess and perfectly remembered where everything was. in a different order would mean, in addition to wasting time, to give yourself the trouble to memorize a new system of cleaning. ., quite strong in philology, by heart quote a controversial place; remembering perfectly well under what chair the quoted writer is hidden, he goes straight there; without rummaging, he pulls out a dusty book from the general pile, opens it, reads it and, proving that he was right, sends the writer back to his original place.

It is also impossible not to mention that N.N. was very sympathetic to the desire of a Russian woman for higher education and, as far as possible, opened her access to a chemical laboratory and to chemistry classes in general, and when Women's Medical Courses were founded at the Medico-Surgical Academy, he read physics on them.

N. N. Zinin did not stand aside from the social movement that was observed in the fifties and sixties of the last century among Russian - mainly Petrograd - chemists, and participated in all chemical circles that arose in Petrograd at that time and in eventually led to the founding of the Russian Chemical Society at Petrograd University. There were at least two such circles: in 1854-1855, at a private laboratory, arranged in his apartment by a professor of technical chemistry at Petrograd University - Pav. Ant. Ilyenkov, where N. N. Sokolov, Yu. F. Fritsshe, N. N. Zinin, L. N. Shishkov, A. N. Engelgardt, N. N. Beketov took part; and then - somewhat later - at the private chemical laboratory of N. N. Sokolov and A. N. Engelhardt. The latter published the first purely chemical journal in Russia, which existed for two years (1859 and 1860) and, in addition to original research by Russian chemists, also provided reviews of everything outstanding in chemical life abroad.

Eight years later, in 1868, the Russian Chemical Society, which still exists today, was founded; N. N. Zinin was elected on December 5, 1868, as its first president, according to the then charter of the Society for five years. In the first years of the Society's existence, he attended almost all meetings, made reports on his work, brought all possible assistance in all the undertakings of the young Society, and on December 13, 1873, he was again elected president for the second five years. In 1876, when the Society arranged in London, on the occasion of the world exhibition, an exhibition of Russian chemical preparations and devices, among the exhibits were substances received by N.N. By the end of the second five years, N. N. began to visit the Chemical Society less often - an ever-increasing illness made itself felt; when his presidential term ended, in December 1878, he was unanimously elected an honorary member of the Society - already the Russian Physico-Chemical Society, since not long before the chemical Society merged with the physical one.

From the autumn of 1878, N.N. began to get seriously ill. And earlier, he had repeatedly been ill, especially in winter, almost every year, which was in bad harmony with his strong physique: he had hemoptysis, abdominal disorders. But the disease, which began at the end of this year, was more serious; the best doctors of that time, students and comrades of N.N., examined the patient and determined the mobility of the kidney and its tumor. At times, N. N. got better, but then worsening invariably followed; on Wednesday, February 6, 1880, at about 12 noon, he died.

A large crowd of comrades, students and admirers of N.N. gathered at the funeral to pay their last debt to the deceased, and many sincere and warm words were uttered over his grave.

The scientific activity of N. N. Zinin, which lies almost exclusively in the field of organic chemistry, began during the period of rapid development of this branch of chemistry - a development that was greatly facilitated by the famous Giessen laboratory. It is quite natural that N. N., who began his experimental research precisely here, under the guidance of J. Liebig, developed a topic related to the "theory of complex radicals", which at that time dominated

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Zinin Nikolai Nikolaevich - a famous Russian chemist, academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1858), the first president of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society (1868-77). Born in Shusha (Nagorno-Karabakh). After graduating from Kazan University in 1833, he was left there to teach mathematics and physics. Since 1835, Zinin began to read a course in theoretical chemistry. In the same year, he brilliantly passed the exam for a master's degree in physical and mathematical sciences. In 1836, Zinin defended his dissertation and received a master's degree in physical and mathematical sciences. In 1837 he was appointed an adjunct in the department of chemistry and sent abroad. Returning to Kazan, Zinin defended his doctoral dissertation "On benzoyl compounds and on new discovered bodies belonging to the benzoyl series." He was the first to obtain benzoin by the condensation of benzaldehyde in the presence of potassium cyanide and benzyl (diphenyldiketone) by the oxidation of benzoin with nitric acid. In his dissertation, Zinin came close to modern concepts of catalysis.

One of the most important areas of Zinin's research was the study of the reactions of oxidation and reduction of organic molecules. Reducing nitrobenzene with hydrogen sulfide, he managed to synthesize aniline (1842). Now aniline could be produced on an industrial scale. In 1844, using the reducing effect of ammonium sulfide on dinitro compounds, Zinin obtained naphthylenediamine and phenylenediamine. Thus, a general method was discovered for the preparation of amine derivatives from organic nitro compounds. In 1847 he was appointed professor of chemistry at the Medical and Surgical Academy, where he served as scientific secretary for 12 years and which he temporarily ruled twice.

In 1848, he received an invitation to join the service in St. Petersburg to head the Department of Chemistry at the Medico-Surgical Academy. Here he worked as an ordinary professor from 1848 to 1859, as an academician from 1856, then as emeritus professor from 1859 to 1864, and finally as "director of chemical works" from 1864 to 1874.

Zinin was an ordinary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. When the Russian Chemical Society was founded (in 1868), Zinin was elected its president and held this rank for 10 years.

He was the first to synthesize (1841) benzyl (diphenylglycolic) acid, describe its properties and establish its composition. He discovered (1842) the reduction reaction of aromatic nitro compounds, which served as the basis for a new branch of the chemical industry - anilo-paint. In the same way he obtained aniline and alpha-naphthylamine (1842), m-phenylenediamine and deoxybenzoin (1844), benzidine (1845). He discovered (1845) the rearrangement of hydrazobenzene under the action of acids - the "benzidine rearrangement". He showed that amines are bases capable of forming salts with various acids. Received (1852) allyl ester of isothiocyanic acid - "volatile mustard oil" - based on iodallyl and potassium thiocyanate.

Zinin found that the interaction of this oil with aniline formed allylphenylthiourea. Zinin developed the most progressive method for the synthesis of nitroglycerin from glycerin using concentrated nitric acid, low temperature, etc. He proposed filling grenades with nitroglycerin (1854), developed a method for obtaining large amounts of nitroglycerin and a method for blowing it up. However, his proposals were not implemented by the artillery department. Only in 1863-67 nitroglycerin began to be successfully used for underground and underwater explosions. Studied (1854) reactions of formation and transformation of urea derivatives; discovered ureides. Investigated derivatives of the allyl radical, synthesized allyl alcohol. Received (1860s) dichloro- and tetrachlorobenzene, tolane and stilbene. Studied (1870s) the composition of lepiden (tetraphenylfuran) and its derivatives. Together with L. L. Voskresensky, he is the founder of a large school of Russian chemists. Among his students were L. M. Butlerov, N. N. Beketov, A. P. Borodin and others. Zinin was an honorary member of many Russian and foreign scientific societies, academies and universities.