HISTORY OF THE CHEMICAL FACULTY OF THE POLYTECHNICAL INSTITUTE (1919–1930)

The short-term existence of the Faculty of Chemistry remains one of the brightest pages in the history of the Polytechnic Institute. It was formed in 1919 on the basis of the Electrochemical Subdivision, which was part of the Metallurgical Department since the foundation of the institute and had an outstanding teaching staff. Academicians N. Kurnakov (four specializations), V.A. Kistyakovsky, F.Yu. Levinson-Lessing, Professor P.P. Fedotiev (Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences since 1933), A.A. Baikov (Academician since 1932), D.S. Belyankin (academician since 1943), famous professors V.A. Kind and B.N. Menshutkin worked at the Faculty of Chemistry. Lectures on physics were read by academician A. F. Ioffe, while then young N.N. Semenov took part in teaching physics. A number of graduates of the Faculty of Chemistry have made a significant contribution to the development of various fields of national science.  We should not forget that it was thanks to V.A. Kistyakovsky that teaching of physical chemistry and theoretical electrochemistry achieved a level corresponding to that time for the first time in Russia, the first Russian laboratories of this type were created at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. Polytechnic Institute was the first in Russia to start educating applied electrochemistry engineers. F.Yu. Levinson-Lessing and his student D.S. Belyankin are the only ones in Russia and the USSR who trained specialists in the field of geochemistry.  The Faculty of Chemistry, like the entire Polytechnic Institute, ceased to exist on June 30, 1930 in accordance with the order of the USSR Supreme Economic Council.