ON THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL THERMODYNAMICS AND KINETICS OF SAINT PETERSBURG STATE UNIVERSITY
Toikka A.M.
Saint Petersburg State University
198504, Saint Petersburg, Peterhof, Univeritetsky pr., 26
The Department of Chemical Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) State University was founded in 1951 by Professor Alexei Vasilyevich Storonkin (1916 – 1994). By this time, A.V. Storonkin was already a well-known scientist, the author of the monograph "On the conditions of thermodynamic equilibrium of multicomponent systems" (1948). The original name of the department ("Department of Theory of Solutions") reflected the continuity of the scientific school of St. Petersburg University, the origins of which were determined by the unprecedented contribution to world science of D.I. Mendeleev, D.P. Konovalov and M.S. Vrevsky.
The 1950s and subsequent years were a further development of the thermodynamic school, whose influence went far beyond the borders of St. Petersburg University. By 1978, the range of both scientific and pedagogical tasks had expanded even further, and the department received its current name. As noted in the paper [1], a thermodynamic school was created, "which can only be compared with the Dutch Van der Waltz school." The first graduates, as well as the first employees of the department (M.P. Susarev, A.G. Morachevsky, N.P. Markuzin, A.I. Rusanov, N.A. Smirnova and others) not only contributed to the development of A.V. Storonkin's ideas, but also became recognized as outstanding scientists with a worldwide reputation. For example, the scientific works of Academician A.I. Rusanov (an employee of the Department in 1955-1987, before being elected head of the Department of Colloidal Chemistry at St. Petersburg State University in 1987) are the basis of the modern thermodynamic theory of surface phenomena. With the name of academician M.M. Schultz (associate professor of the department in the early 1950s and professor in 1997 – 2006) is associated not only with work in the field of chemistry of the glassy state, but also with fundamental thermodynamic results, for example, in the field of stability theory. Corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences N.A. Smirnova, a student of A.V. Storonkin and a graduate of the department is a well-known specialist in the field of statistical thermodynamics. Other graduates of later years still head the chemical departments of the largest universities in our country (A.I. Viktorov, M.V. Charykova, K.N. Semenov, A.M. Toikka and others). The report also provides other information about the contribution of the department and its staff (including professors V.T. Zharov and V.K. Filippov) to national and world science and education, their role in the development of chemical thermodynamics and related branches of physical chemistry.
1. Rusanov A.I., Schultz M.M. Chemical Thermodynamic School of St. Petersburg University // Vestn. St. Petersburg University. Ser. 4: Physics, chemistry. 1998. Issue 1. pp. 144-153.