Nikolai Emanuel

Born Sept. 18 (Oct. 1), 1915, in the settlement of Tim, in what is now Tim Raion, Kursk Oblast. Soviet physical chemist. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1966; corresponding member, 1958). Member of the CPSU since 1948.

Emanuel’ graduated from the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute in 1938. In the same year he joined the staff of the Institute of Chemical Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, and in 1960 he was appointed head of the institute’s sector for the kinetics of chemical and biological processes. In 1944, he also joined the teaching staff at Moscow State University, where he became a professor in 1950. In 1975 he became academician-secretary of the Division of General and Technical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and a member of the Presidium of the academy.

Emanuel’s principal works are devoted to the kinetics and mechanisms of chemical reactions. He has made a noteworthy contribution to the theory and practical application of the processes involved in the oxidation of organic compounds in the liquid phase, and he has made important discoveries concerning the mechanism responsible for the action of inhibitors and homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts in these processes. He is currently supervising research on the kinetics of polymer degradation and stabilization, including the development of new stabilizers. Since the late 1950’s he has also been carrying out research in the field of biological kinetics and investigating the kinetic laws and free-radical mechanisms of tumor growth and of the development of radiation sickness. He has proposed new preparations for treating tumors; the molecular mechanisms of the action of these preparations is being studied.

Emanuel’ is a member of several foreign academies. Emanuel’ received the Lenin Prize in 1958, and he has been awarded the Order of Lenin, three other orders, and various medals.