Semenov Nikolay is a famous Soviet chemist who is one of the founders of chemical physics. Also, our hero was an academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Youth
The future scientist was born in the Russian city of Saratov in April 1896. Nikolai graduated from the Saratov Real School in 1913, and his name was entered on a golden board. During the training, the guy met Vladimir Karmilov - his teacher and friend. It was he who supported Semenov’s zeal to devote his life to science. They carried their friendship through the years. In the summer of 1913, Nikolai Semenov entered the University of Petrograd at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. Nikolai Alexandrovich Semenov was a military man and thought that his son would also devote himself to this career. When he entered the university, a split occurred in the family, which lasted several years. Starting from the second course of study, the young man began to engage in serious research under the guidance of A. Ioffe. He also wrote several scientific papers about atoms and molecules. In 1917 he graduated from university and received a diploma of the first degree. Semenov Nikolay Nikolaevich remains at the educational institution, having entered the professorship scholarship holder (modern postgraduate study).
Service
Biography of Semenov Nikolai Nikolaevich makes a new round when he travels to Samara in 1918 to visit his parents. Arriving there, he finds the rebellion of the Czechoslovak corps. In the summer of 1918, the Socialist Revolutionaries seized power in Samara. After some time, Nicholas volunteered to become a volunteer soldier of the White Guard Army. There he served only three weeks with the guide of the artillery battery. Such a short service life is due to the fact that soon came the news that his father was seriously ill. The young man received a vacation, but his father soon died.
Tomsk
After this, Nikolai decided to return to the place of hostilities, but deserted and went to Tomsk, which was the nearest university campus. The scientist spent about two years of his life here, working at the university and the Technological Institute. However, after a while the scientist was mobilized into the Kolchak army. He ended up in the artillery division, but was soon transferred to the radio battalion thanks to the stubbornness of his colleagues. After that, he was able to continue his research at the Technological Institute. In the winter of 1919, the city was captured by the Red Army. This led to the fact that Semenov was fired, after which he continued to engage in research and teaching work.
Invitations of A. Ioffe
In the spring of 1920, Nikolai Semenov, whose biography makes another unexpected turn, returns to Petrograd at the invitation of his friend A. Ioffe, who at that time was creating the Physicotechnical X-ray Institute. Semenov became head of the laboratory of electronic phenomena, and after a while he served as deputy director at the Physics and Technology Institute. Together with P. Kapitsa, our hero offers the scientific world a new way to measure the magnetic field of an atom in an inhomogeneous field. The same method was actively developed by two other scientists O. Stern and V. Gerlach. In 1928, Nikolai Semenov received the title of professor at the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. After some time, he creates the Institute of Chemical Physics and becomes its permanent director until the last days of his life. An interesting fact is that within a few days after the foundation of the university, it was moved to Moscow.
Soon, the professor becomes a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and in 1932 - its real member. Shortly afterwards, he publishes a monograph entitled “Chemical Kinetics and Chain Reactions,” where he argues for the existence of a chain reaction.
War
Nikolai Semenov is a chemist who came in handy to his state even during the war. In 1941, he was evacuated to Kazan, where he was assigned to deal with issues of explosions and burning. Soon he returned to the capital and began to work as a teacher at Moscow State University. University workers extremely coldly accepted the appearance of Semenov in their circles. In the same year, he organized the Department of Chemical Kinetics, which he headed over the next 40 years.
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology
In 1946, together with P. Kapitsa, he organized the aforementioned educational institution Semenov and at the same time became its co-founder and supervisor of the Faculty of Chemistry. Ten years of his life (1940-1950), he is an active participant and activist of the Soviet atomic project. In 1947, Nikolai Semenov joined the CPSU. From 1961 to 1966 he was a candidate member of the Central Committee, and also 3 times became a deputy of the Supreme Council. In 1966, he was elected deputy of the 7th convocation from the district No. 512.
The scientist was one of the opponents of nuclear war. Such chemists and physicists as Y. Zel'dovich, Yu. Khariton, N. Emanuel are referred to his scientific school. The great scientist was buried in the capital of Russia at the Novodevichy cemetery. Death came from natural causes in the fall of 1986.
Scientific activity
Nikolai Semenov, whose brief biography is the topic of this article, made many useful scientific discoveries. The main ones relate to the theory of thermal explosion, combustion of gas mixtures and the theory of chain reactions in chemistry. The scientist's first serious question was the problem of gas ionization. He also dealt with the topic of breakdown of dielectrics, which later led him to create a thermal theory of breakdown. It was she who became the basis for creating the theory of thermal ignition. All this allowed the scientist to deal with the issues of detonation and burning of explosives.
Together with the scientist P. Kapitsa, he conducted experiments, which made it possible to calculate the deviation of a beam of paramagnetic atoms in an inhomogeneous field. With Yu. Khariton he managed to detect the condensation temperature and its critical density.
The scientist gained the greatest fame thanks to his theory of chain reactions. A little later, he proved the radical nature of the chain process, citing a number of arguments. These discoveries of the scientist opened up new horizons for chemists. With A. Shilov proved the relationship of energy processes and the development of chain reactions. In 1956, Semenov was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He is also the author of the book “The phenomenon of energy branching in chemical reactions”.
Nikolai Semenov, whose photo is in the article, finalized the method of quasistationary concentrations of Bodenstein. Prior to this, this method was the only basis for kinetic calculations in practice. Some works of the scientist are devoted to the topic of catalytic processes. He substantiated the theory of heterogeneous catalysis together with F. Volkenstein and V. Voevodsky.
A family
Semenov Nikolay Nikolaevich grew up in a very worthy family. As we already know, his father was an officer. After the resignation, he worked as an official, and later became a state adviser and received personal nobility. The mother of the chemist Elena Alexandrovna was of aristocratic origin. Maternal grandfather of Nikolai Semenov was a Tsarskoye Selo employee.
Our hero married in 1921 a philologist, novelist, professor at the University of Petrograd and translator Dante Maria Isidorovna Boreyshe-Liverovskaya. An interesting fact is that the woman already had 4 children from the first man and was much older than her companion. After two happy years of marriage, Maria Isidorovna died of cancer. A year later, the scientist marries Natalia Burtseva, the niece of her wife. This marriage was much more successful, as he gave a pair of two wonderful children: Lyudmila and Yuri. In 1971, Semenov Nikolay divorced to connect life with one of his assistants. The last marriage was, like the first, childless.
Summing up the article, we can say that the works and experiments of Nikolai Semenov became a solid basis for further research and development of chemical science. The scientist's activities were marked by a list of awards that he deserved for his hard work and innovative ideas.