Dnipro (the former Yekaterinoslav, then Dnepropetrovsk) in a large industrial city hosting several technical universities,
Lev Vladimirovich Pisarzhevskyi (1874-1938) was educated in Odessa, and started his research under supervision of Petr Grigorievich Melikishvili (Melikov) (1850-1927). The topic was related to inorganic peroxides, and included homogeneous reactions of peroxides in solutions. This resulted in appearance of various Pisarzhevskyi’s scientific directions, which are described in three subsequent texts in Uspekhi Khimii. 1948. V. 17, roughly specified as solutions (P. 506-508), electron in chemistry (P. 508-512) and catalysis (P. 512-515), in Russian. He subsequently worked in…. Tartu…. Tbilisi… See also in “History of developing catalysis in Ukraine (1850s-1980s)“.
In 1927, on the basis of his Dept in the Mining University, he founded the Institute of Physical Chemistry (this photo shows the first Institute building in Dnipro). This institute was later accepted by the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, named after Pisarzhevskyi. When WWII started, the institute was evacuated to Ufa (Bashkortostan), and moved from Ufa to Kiev in 1944.
Aleksandr Il’ich Brodskyi (1895-1969) was initially educated in Yekaterinoslav, but moved to Moscow and graduated from Moscow University in 1922. He became Pisarzhevskyi’s pupil/collaborator, and later his successor as the Institute director, starting from 1939. During his early research period, Brodskyi mostly studied electrolyte solutions and electromotive force of electrochemical cells. He pioneered application of optical techniques in solution research (Uspekhi Khimii. 1932. V. 1. P. 712-743, review in Russian). In 1930s, he was involved into completely new area of isotopes separation, see below.
Mal’vina Assirovna Rozenberg (1888-1965) was Pisarzhevskyi’s collaborator and wife, who headed Inorganic chemistry Dept in Dnipro University in 1925-1941 and in 1944-1952, the link goes to biographic text in Ukrainian with abstract/captions in English. She also served as a Dean of Chemical faculty in late 1930s. Her memorial text about Pisarzhevskyi was published in Uspekhi Khimii. 1948. V. 17. P. 501-505, in Russian.
The photo shows 1934 electrolysis experiments for preparation of heavy water, arranged at Dnipro hydroelectric power plant. Natural water from Dnipro river was treated. Brodskyi continued to develop isotope separation techniques, including non-electrochemical, for both hydrogen and oxygen isotopes (here is his 1938 review), and later for other elements. He is known for quantitative consideration of ideal mixtures separation, which formed a basis for isotope technologies. Brodskyi’s fundamental book on the chemistry of isotopes was first published in 1952.
