Kovalskii, Aleksandr Alekseevich

Born Aug. 28 (Sept. 10), 1906, in Orenburg. Soviet physical chemist; corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1958). Member of the CPSU from 1949.

Koval’skii, a student of Academician N. N. Semenov, graduated from the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute in 1930. In 1957 he became director of the Institute of Chemical Kinetics and Combustion of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (Novosibirsk). The author of the first studies in branched chain reactions, Koval’skii was the first to study the rate of these processes. He also demonstrated the existence of homogenous chain reactions that begin on the surface of a catalyst. In nuclear physics he conducted research on the absorption and multiplication of high-energy neutrons and investigated the distribution of high-temperature radiation as well as its interaction with a substance. He wrote papers on the physics and chemistry of aerosols and their use in the national economy. Koval’skii has been awarded the Order of Lenin, three other orders, and several medals.