The formation of a community of chemists in Russia: 1700-1870. (Volumes I and II)

This dissertation examines the evolution of chemistry in Russia from the early eighteenth century until about 1870 and focuses on the changes in the intellectual values and social organization of Russian chemists during these years. This period spans a time from when Russian chemists had little contact with other chemists in the Empire until the decade after the Crimean War when a true national community of chemists formed. I show that Russian chemists changed their outlooks from a focus on parochial, local issues to a concentration on matters of importance to the international community of chemists. At the same time as this shift in values was occurring, the career patterns of chemists in Russia began to change in ways that partly were related to the changes in the value system. Chemists began to see themselves primarily as researchers rather than as educators or government servitors. To these chemists, the conduct of original laboratory research and its publication in a specialized chemistry journal became the main occupation of a true chemist.;Chapters 1 and 2 analyze the situation of chemistry in Russia during the eighteenth century, focusing on the chemists at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Chapter 3 examines the shifting nature of the University Statutes and, in particular, the place of chemistry within the universities. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 present case studies of the development of chemistry at Kazan University, at Moscow University, and at various institutions in St. Petersburg. I find that only in St. Petersburg were conditions appropriate for the formation of a community of chemists. Chapter 7 contains a prosoprographical analysis of all professors of chemistry in Russia from 1800-1917. Chapter 8 examines the formation of the Russian Chemical Society and shows that its primary founders were young chemists living in St. Petersburg who wished to have a formal communication network to link chemists throughout Russia. Chapter 9 presents an interpretation of the changes that occurred in chemistry during the late 1850s-1860 when the community of chemists in Russia began to take shape.