Lev Vladimirovich Pisarzhevsky (also

transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or ...

as Pisarzhevskii: russian: Лев Влади́мирович Писарже́вский; 13 February 1874 – 23 March 1938) was a Ukrainian Soviet chemist who studied

peroxide In chemistry, peroxides are a group of compounds with the structure , where R = any element. The group in a peroxide is called the peroxide group or peroxo group. The nomenclature is somewhat variable. The most common peroxide is hydrogen p ...

peracid A peroxy acid (often spelled as one word, peroxyacid, and sometimes called peracid) is an acid which contains an acidic –OOH group. The two main classes are those derived from conventional mineral acids, especially sulfuric acid, and the peroxy ...

s, and

solution Solution may refer to: * Solution (chemistry), a mixture where one substance is dissolved in another * Solution (equation), in mathematics ** Numerical solution, in numerical analysis, approximate solutions within specified error bounds * Soluti ...

s. His contribution to the theory of

catalysis Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...

is best known for his attempt to relate the catalytic properties of solids to their electronic properties.

Biography

Lev Vladimirovich Pisarzhevsky was born on 13 February 1874 Kishinev in the

Bessarabia Governorate The Bessarabia Governorate (, ) was a part of the Russian Empire from 1812 to 1917. Initially known as Bessarabia Oblast (Бессарабская область, ''Bessarabskaya oblast'') as well as, following 1871, a governorate, it included ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(now Chişinău,

Republic of Moldova A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

). His mother relocated the family 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 ...

following his father's death, where Lev Pisarzhevsky worked to support the family and studied at a school of

classical education Classical education may refer to: *''Modern'', educational practices and educational movements: **An education in the Classics, especially in Ancient Greek and Latin **Classical education movement, based on the trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric) an ...

. He graduated from Novorossiysky University (now Odessa National University) in 1896 and proceeded to work on inorganic peroxides with his university instructor P. Melikishvili. He spent the period from 1900 to 1903 abroad, where he worked in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

with

Wilhelm Ostwald Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald (; 4 April 1932) was a Baltic German chemist and German philosophy, philosopher. Ostwald is credited with being one of the founders of the field of physical chemistry, with Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Walther Nernst, ...

in 1900-1902 and also became acquainted with such leading

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

an contributors to

physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mecha ...

as Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff,

Svante Arrhenius Svante August Arrhenius ( , ; 19 February 1859 – 2 October 1927) was a Swedes, Swedish scientist. Originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, Arrhenius was one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry. He received ...

, and

Walther Nernst Walther Hermann Nernst (; 25 June 1864 – 18 November 1941) was a German chemist known for his work in thermodynamics, physical chemistry, electrochemistry, and solid state physics. His formulation of the Nernst heat theorem helped pave the wa ...

. The young Pisarzhevsky succeeded

Gustav Tammann Gustav Andreas Tammann (24 July 1932 – 6 January 2019) was a German astronomer and academic. He served as director of the Astronomical Institute of the University of Basel; as a member of the European Space Agency Space Telescope Advisory Tea ...

as professor of chemistry at Yuryev University (now

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

) after being recommended by

Dmitry Mendeleyev Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (sometimes transliterated as Mendeleyev or Mendeleef) ( ; russian: links=no, Дмитрий Иванович Менделеев, tr. , ; 8 February Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._27_January.html" ;"title="O ...

in 1904.Past, Vello (2001). "The Emergence of Physical Chemistry: The Contribution of the University of Tartu". In Rein Vihalemm (Ed.), ''Estonian Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science'' (pp. 35-50). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. p. 48. . His Tartu work contributed to the formulation of the Walden-Pisarzhevsky rule. Pisarzhevsky lectured in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

between 1911 and 1913 and was awarded a doctoral degree for a dissertation entitled ''Thee Free Energy of Chemical Reaction and the Solvent'' in 1913. He subsequently taught in Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro, but from 1926 until May 2016 the city was called

Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

) and was a founder of the Ukrainian Institute of Physical Chemistry (now the L. V. Pisarzhevsky Institute of Physical Chemistry of the

National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU; uk, Національна академія наук України, ''Natsional’na akademiya nauk Ukrayiny'', abbr: NAN Ukraine) is a self-governing state-funded organization in Ukraine th ...

) in 1927. He was elected a corresponding member of the

Academy of Sciences of the USSR The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...

in 1928 and a full member in 1930. He died in Dnipropetrovsk on 23 March 1938 after a period of deteriorating health.

References

External links

A profile on the Russian Academy of Sciences website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pisarzhevsky, Lev 1874 births 1938 deaths Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Scientists from Chișinău Russian chemists Soviet chemists 20th-century chemists Academic staff of the University of Tartu