Alexander Naumovich Frumkin (Алекса́ндр Нау́мович Фру́мкин) (October 24, 1895 – May 27, 1976) was a Russian/ Soviet electrochemist, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1932, founder of the Russian Journal of Electrochemistry '' Elektrokhimiya'' and receiver of the Hero of Socialist Labor award. The Russian Academy of Sciences' A.N. Frumkin Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry is named after him.

Biography

Early life

Frumkin was born in Kishinev, in the Bessarabia Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Moldova) to a Jewish family; his father was an insurance salesman. His family moved to

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

, where he received his primary schooling; he continued his education in Strasbourg, and then at the University of

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

. Frumkin's first published articles appeared in 1914, when he was only 19; in 1915, he received his first degree, back in Odessa. Two years later, the seminal article "Electrocapillary Phenomena and Electrode Potentials" was published. Frumkin moved to Moscow in 1922 to work at the Karpov Institute, under A.N. Bakh. In 1930, Frumkin joined the faculty of

Moscow University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

, where in 1933 he founded—and would head until his death—the department of electrochemistry. Frumkin was married three times, including a brief first marriage to

Vera Inber Vera Mikhailovna Inber (russian: link=no, Вера Михайловна Инбер), born Shpenzer (10 July 1890, Odessa11 November 1972, Moscow), was a Russian and Soviet poet and writer. Biography Her father Moshe owned a scientific publishing ...

Scientific career

During the Second World War, Frumkin led a large team of scientists and engineers involved in defense issues. This contribution did not save him from being dismissed in 1949 as the director of the Institute of Physical Chemistry, when he was accused of cosmopolitanism. Frumkin's most fundamental achievement was the fundamental theory of electrode reactions, which describes the influence of the structure of the interface between electrode and solution on the rate of electron transfer, especially emphasizing the involvement of the solvated electron and its free energy of solvation. This theory has been confirmed and extended within the framework of contemporary physical electron transfer models. Frumkin introduced the concept of the zero charge potential, the most important characteristic of a metal surface.

Alessandro Volta Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (, ; 18 February 1745 – 5 March 1827) was an Italian physicist, chemist and lay Catholic who was a pioneer of electricity and power who is credited as the inventor of the electric battery and the ...

's question—a topic of discussion for over 120 years—about the nature of the EMF of electrochemical circuits was resolved using Frumkin's approach. Frumkin has developed the Frumkin isotherm, an extension of the Langmuir isotherm in describing certain adsorption phenomena. Frumkin's students developed novel experimental methods that would, in time, become standard. Several applied electrochemical processes, including ones related to chemical sources of electrical power, industrial

electrolysis In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a technique that uses direct electric current (DC) to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction. Electrolysis is commercially important as a stage in the separation of elements from n ...

, and anti- corrosion protection, were successfully developed under Frumkin's supervision.

Honours and awards

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour (russian: links=no, Герой Социалистического Труда, Geroy Sotsialisticheskogo Truda) was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It repre ...

- 1965 * Order of Lenin, three times * Order of the Red Banner of Labour, three times * Lenin Prize (1931) * Stalin Prize, three times (1941, 1949, 1952) Frumkin was nominated for Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1946, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1966, but he did not receive the Prize.

References

External links