Nametkin, Sergei

Nametkin, Sergei Semenovich

 

Born June 21 (July 3), 1876, in Kazan; died Aug. 5, 1950, in Moscow. Soviet organic chemist; academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1939; corresponding member, 1932). Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the RSFSR (1947).

After graduating from Moscow University (1902), where he studied under N. D. Zelinskii, Nametkin worked at the university. In 1911 he left the university in protest against the reactionary policies of the minister of education, L. A. Kasso. Nametkin was appointed a professor at the Moscow Advanced Courses for Women in 1912 and later was a professor at the Second Moscow University (1918–30; rector, 1919–24), the Moscow Institute of Fine Chemical Technology (1930–38), and Moscow State University (after 1938). He became director of the Institute of Petroleum of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in 1948.

Nametkin’s main works were concerned with the theoretical chemistry of hydrocarbons and with scientific and applied problems in petrochemistry. He studied the composition and properties of petroleum and natural gases in the USSR, devised a method for identifying unsaturated hydrocarbons in petroleum products, and took an active part in formulating the catalytic aromatization of petroleum fractions. He discovered camphene rearrangements of the second type, studied the synthesis of odoriferous substances, and carried out studies on metallo-organic compounds and stimulators of plant growth.

Nametkin was awarded the State Prize of the USSR (1943 and 1949), the Order of Lenin, three other orders, and several medals.

WORKS

Sobr. trudov, vols. 1–3. Moscow, 1954–55. (Contains a list of works by Nametkin.)
Khimiia nefti, 3rd ed. Moscow, 1955.

REFERENCES

Sergei Semenovich Nametkin. Moscow-Leningrad, 1946. (AN SSSR: Materialy k biobibliografii uchenykh SSSR, seriia khimicheskikh nauk, fasc. 2.)
Topchiev, A. V., S. R. Sergienko, and P. I. Sanin. “Vydaiushchiisia sovetskii uchenyi S. S. Nametkin.” Tr. po istorii tekhniki, 1953, fasc. 3.
Lisichkin, S. M. Vydaiushchiesia deiateli otechestvennoi neftianoi nauki i tekhniki. Moscow, 1967. Pages 218–25.