Chemistry is the most important science, which is already used mechanically in the modern world. A person does not think about the fact that he uses the discoveries made by scientists in his time in everyday life. Cooking according to ordinary and unusual recipes, working in the garden - feeding plants, spraying, protecting against pests, using medicines from a home medicine cabinet, using favorite cosmetics - all these possibilities were given to us by chemistry.
Thanks to many years of work, the great chemists have made our world just that - convenient and comfortable. More information about some of the discoveries and names of scientists can be found in the article.
The formation of chemistry as a science
As an independent science, chemistry began to develop only in the second half of the 18th century. The great chemists, who gave the world many interesting and useful discoveries in the field of research on chemical elements, made a huge contribution to the formation of the world in its current form.
Thanks to the work of scientists, today we can use a lot of advantages in everyday life. Chemistry became a strict discipline only with the help of painstaking work and a clear distribution of the basic concepts in science that the great chemists have been performing for a long time.
Discovery of new chemical elements
At the beginning of the 19th century, the scientist Jens Jakob Berzelius lived and worked in Sweden. He devoted his life entirely to chemical research. He received the title of professor of chemistry at the Medical and Surgical Institute, was listed in the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences as an honorary foreign representative. He was president of the Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Jens Jakob Berzelius was the first scientist to propose using letters to name chemical elements. His idea was successfully picked up and used to this day.
The discovery of new chemical elements - cerium, selenium and thorium - is the merit of Berzelius. The idea of ​​determining the atomic masses of a substance also belongs to the scientist. He invented new devices, methods of analysis, laboratory techniques, investigated the structure of matter.
The main contribution of Berzelius to modern science is the explanation of the logical connection between many chemical concepts and facts that seemed unrelated to each other, as well as the creation of new concepts and the improvement of chemical symbolism.
The place of man in the development of evolution
Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky, the great Soviet scientist, devoted his life to the development of a new science - geochemistry. Being a natural scientist, scientist, researcher, and a biologist by education, Vladimir Ivanovich created two new scientific fields - biogeochemistry and geochemistry.
The importance of atoms in the earth's crust and in the Universe became the basis of research in these sciences, which were immediately recognized as important and necessary. Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky analyzed the entire system of chemical elements of Mendeleev and divided them into groups according to their participation in the earth's crust.
It’s impossible to unequivocally name Vernadsky’s activity in any particular field: he was a biologist, chemist, historian, and natural sciences expert. The place of man in the development of evolution was defined by the scientist as having an effect on the world around him, and not related to simple observation and obedience to the laws of nature, as was previously thought in the scientific world.
Oil research and the invention of coal gas masks
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences Nikolai Zelinsky became the founder of petrochemistry and organic catalysis, created a scientific school.
Studies of the origin of oil, discoveries in the field of hydrocarbon synthesis, the reaction of producing alpha-amino acids are the merits of Nikolai Dmitrievich.
In 1915, the scientist created a coal gas mask. During gas attacks by the British and Germans in World War I, many soldiers died on the battlefields: out of 12,000 people, only 2,000 remained alive. Nikolai Zelinsky together with scientist V.S. Sadikov developed a method of calcining coal and laid it the foundation for the creation of a gas mask. The use of this invention saved the lives of millions of Russian soldiers.
Zelinsky was awarded three times the State Prize of the USSR and other awards, the title of Hero of Socialist Labor and Honored Worker of Science, was appointed honorary representative of the Moscow Society of Naturalists.
Chemical industry development
Markovnikov Vladimir Vasilievich - an outstanding Russian scientist. He contributed to the development of the chemical industry in Russia, discovered naphthenes, and conducted in-depth and detailed studies of Caucasian oil.
The Russian Chemical Society was organized in Russia in 1868, thanks to this scientist. In his life he achieved academic ranks, served as a professor in the department of chemistry. He defended several dissertations, which made a significant contribution to the development of science. The topic of dissertations was research in the field of fatty acid isomerism, as well as the mutual influence of atoms in chemical compounds.
During the war, Markovnikov Vladimir Vasilievich was sent to serve in a military hospital. There he supervised disinfection, and suffered from typhoid fever himself. He suffered a disease, but did not leave his profession. After 25 years of service, Markovnikov was left in the service for another 5 years, due to his excellent knowledge of his work and professionalism.
At Moscow University, Vladimir Vasilievich lectured at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, and transferred the chair to Professor Zelinsky, because The scientist’s state of health was already not the best. Among the scientist’s main discoveries are obtaining suberon, rules for the course of reactions resulting from cleavage and substitution (Morkovnikov’s rules), and the discovery of a new class of organic compounds — naphthenes.
Gas reactions and cement chemistry
The outstanding French scientist Henri Louis le Chatelier became a pioneer in chemistry in the study of combustion processes, as well as the study of the chemistry of cements.
The processes taking place in the reactions between gases, also became the object of study of the scientist.
The main idea, which was the red line in all the works of Henri Louis le Chatelier, is the close connection of scientific discoveries with problems that are becoming priorities in industry. His book "Science and Industry" is popular and now in the scientific community.
The scientist devoted much time to researching reactions occurring with mine gas. All the processes that can occur with gas - ignition, combustion, detonation - were studied in detail by Henri Louis and he also proposed new methods of metallurgical and heat engineering calculations. The scientist won recognition and fame not only in France, but also around the world.
Quantum chemistry
The founder of the theory of orbitals was John Edward Lennard Jones. This English scientist was the first to hypothesize that the electrons of a molecule are in separate orbitals, which belong to the molecule itself, and not to individual atoms.
The development of quantum chemical methods is the credit of Lennard-John. For the first time, it was John Edward Lennard Jones who began to use the connection in the diagrams between the single-electron levels of molecules and the corresponding levels of the initial atoms. The surface of the adsorbent and the atom of the adsorbate have become the subject of research for the scientist. He hypothesized that there might be a chemical bond between elements , and devoted many works to proving his hypothesis. During his career, he was appointed a member of the Royal Society of London.
Proceedings of scientists
In general, chemistry is the science of researching and transforming various substances, changing their shell and the result obtained after the onset of the reaction. The great chemists of the world have dedicated their lives to this discipline.
Chemistry captivated, captivated and beckoned with its unexplored, wonderful combination of the unidentified with an amazing result, which unexpectedly, or vice versa, as expected, scientists came. Studies of atoms, molecules, chemical elements, their composition, variants of their compounds and many other experiments led scientists to the most important discoveries that we use today.