Background
KURNAKOV, Nikolay was born on December 6, 1860 in Nolinsk, Vyatka (Kirov) Province. Son of an officer
KURNAKOV, Nikolay was born on December 6, 1860 in Nolinsk, Vyatka (Kirov) Province. Son of an officer
1877 graduate Nizhniy Novgorod Military High-School. 1882 graduate Saint St. Petersburg Mining Institute.
1885-1893 adjunct professor, 1893-1899 professor of inorganic chemistry, from 1899 professor of analytic chemistry. Chair of Metallurgy, Halurgy and Assaying, Saint St. Petersburg Mining Institute. 1893 defended doctor’s thesis on complex metallic bases, with which he pioneered systematic Russian research on the structure and properties of complex compounds.
Synthesized and studied several new platinum compounds and discovered the Kurnakov reaction by which the structure of the derivatives of bivalent platinum can be determined. 1898 began research on metallic alloys. 1899-1908 professor of physical chemistry, Saint St. Petersburg Electrotech Institute.
1900 compiled basic composition charts showing the fusibility of binary systems 1902-1930 professor of general chemistry, Saint St. Petersburg (Leningrad) Polytech Institute. 1903 designed selfrecording pyrometer which greatly improved thermal analysis methods.
1906, together with South. F. Zhemchuzhnyy, developed basic composition charts on the electr conductivity of binary systems (the Kumakov-Zhemchuzhnyy rules). Demonstrated that tech alloys with a high electr resistance consist of solid solutions. 1908-1909, again with Zhemchuzhnyy, developed composition charts on solidity.
1908-1913 devised new method of determining emission pressure. 1914, in course of research on tempered and quenched copper-and-gold alloys, observed the formation of specific chemical compounds of solid solutions. Gave impetus to the study of the physical and mech properties of metallic systems in relation to composition and temperature.
1915, together with V. I. Vernadskiy and A. Ye. Fersman, organized Commission for the Study of Russia’s Natural Productive Forces, Russian Academy of Sciences. From 1918 foundcr-director, Institute of Physiochemical Analysis, Russian Academy of Sciences.
1919 founded journal Izvestiya Instituta fiziko-khimicheskogo analiza: 1919-1927 director, State Institute of Applied Chemistry. From 1920 director Chemical Laboratory (later General Chemistry Laboratory), Russian Academy of Sciences. 1920 and 1924 organized Congresses of Russian Physiochemical Social (now AllUnion Mendeleyev Chemical Social) and Russian Metallurgical Social, of which he was an active member.
From 1922 director, Institute for the Study of Platinum and Other Precious Metals, Russian Academy of Sciences. 1928 organized conference on salts, 1929 on solid metallic solutions, 1933 on physiochemical analysis. 1930-1934 chairman, Chemical Association, Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics Academy of Sciences.
From 1934 director, Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry, Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics Academy of Sciences, which was named after him in 1944. 1936 founded journal Izvestiya Sektora fizikokhimicheskogo analiza. Contributed to the development of Soviet chemical engineering and trained numerous chemists and metallurgists.