Gustavs Vanags (10 March 1891 — 8 May 1965) was a Soviet and Latvian organic chemist, full member of Latvian SSR Academy of Sciences. He was also one of the signers of the Memorandum of

Latvian Central Council The Latvian Central Council (LCC, lv, Latvijas Centrālā Padome, LCP) was the pro-independence Latvian resistance movement during World War II from 1943 onwards. The LCC consisted of members from across the spectrum of former leading Latvian po ...

in 1944.

Biography

Gustavs Vanags was born in "Rungas" house of the Schnicken (Sniķeru) manor (now in Ukri Parish,

Auce Municipality Auce Municipality ( lv, Auces novads) was a municipality in Semigallia, Latvia. The municipality was formed in 2009 by merging Bēne parish, Lielauce parish, Ukri parish, Vītiņi parish, Īle parish and Auce town with its countryside terri ...

). He received primary education in the

Mitau Jelgava (; german: Mitau, ; see also #Name, other names) is a state city in central Latvia about southwest of Riga with 55,972 inhabitants (2019). It is the largest town in the region of Zemgale (Semigalia). Jelgava was the capital of the unit ...

Classic Gymnasium, and in 1910 enrolled Riga Polytechnic Institute. During the First World War, he, among many, went in evacuation to the inner regions of Russian Empire; after returning from it in 1921, he completed his education in the new-founded University of Latvia and worked at the Faculty of Chemistry, raising to the position of the chair of the Department of organic chemistry. He received his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

in 1932. After Riga Polytechnic Institute was reestablished in 1958, G. Vanags moved to it, serving in the same position as the department chair until 1965. Simultaneously he also worked in the State Institute of Organic Synthesis, where he carried out his research in the chemistry of cyclic β-

diketones In organic chemistry, a dicarbonyl is a molecule containing two carbonyl () groups. Although this term could refer to any organic compound containing two carbonyl groups, it is used more specifically to describe molecules in which both carbonyls ...

. He was founder of Riga scholl of organic chemists specializing on β-diketones, which continues up to day (2020). Gustavs Vanags, along with his students, designed and synthesized several compounds of notable application in medicine, agriculture and chemical analysis (omefin, bindon, nitroindandione, rhodenticide diphenadione or ratindan). Gustavs Vanags died in a sudden death on May 8th, 1965, in Riga. He was buried in the Forest Cemetery.

Commemoration

Latvian Academy of Sciences named a biannual prize for advances in chemistry in Gustavs Vanags' name. A commemorative plaque with bas-relief of G. Vanags is installed in the hall of Riga Technical University Faculty of Chemistry. A commemorative stone is erected at the place where his native house of "Rungas" once stood.

References

External links

Article in Letonika encyclopedia
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Exhibition "Gustavs Vanags and organic chemistry in Latvia
1891 births 1965 deaths 20th-century chemists 20th-century Latvian inventors People from Auce Municipality People from Kovno Governorate People from Zemgale Academicians of the Latvian SSR Academy of Sciences Riga Technical University alumni Academic staff of Riga Technical University University of Latvia alumni Academic staff of the University of Latvia Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Latvian chemists {{cat improve, date=April 2020 Latvian inventors Soviet chemists Soviet inventors