Vladimir N. Ipatieff papers, 1896-1953

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Summary

Creators:
Ipatieff, Vladimir N. (Vladimir Nikolaevich), 1867-1952
Abstract:
Speeches and writings, correspondence, patents, biographical data, and photographs, relating to chemical research in Russia and the Soviet Union, and to Russian émigré affairs.
Extent:
2 manuscript boxes, 7 microfilm reels (1.8 Linear Feet)
Language:
In various languages
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Vladimir N. Ipatieff papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains the patents and scientific articles of Vladimir N. Ipatieff for his émigré period, as well as a significant amount of biographical material.

Of particular value are the biographical materials collected by Ipatieff and others describing his life and scientific achievements. These materials include clippings, photographs, correspondence, speeches and writings by and about Ipatieff, and relate also to his public and social activities and accomplishments, especially for the benefit of the émigré community.

Detailed processing and preservation microfilming for these materials were made possible by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and by matching funds from the Hoover Institution and Museum of Russian Culture. The grant also provides depositing a microfilm copy in the Hoover Institution Library & Archives. The original materials and copyright to them (with some exceptions) are the property of the Museum of Russian Culture, San Francisco. A transfer table indicating corresponding box and reel numbers is available at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

The Hoover Institution assumes all responsibility for notifying users that they must comply with the copyright law of the United States (Title 17 United States Code) and Hoover Rules for the Use and Reproduction of Archival Materials.

Biographical / historical:

Vladimir Nikolaevich Ipatieff was born on 21 November 1867 in Moscow, Russia. His early career was that of a military man: in 1887 he graduated from the Mikhailovskoe artilleriiskoe uchilishche, and in 1892 from the Mikhailovskaia artilleriiskaia akademiia. But his interest in chemistry diverted him from a strictly military path. Teaching the subject at the Artillery Academy, he went on to get a doctorate from St. Petersburg University in 1907, while advancing in military rank to major general in 1910. From 1906 to 1916, he taught chemistry at the University as well, and was made a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1916. As a lieutenant general during the First World War, he served as Director of the Commission for Preparation of Explosives and Chairman of the Chemical Committee.

Following the revolution, he remained in the Soviet Union, where he founded the High Pressure Institute in 1927. But in 1931, while on a trip abroad, he decided not to return and came to the United States, where he taught at Northwestern University from 1931 to 1935. In 1939 he was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Ipatieff died in Chicago on 29 February 1952. Northwestern University dedicated a laboratory in his honor.

Ipatieff authored hundreds of articles on chemistry in a number of languages, as well as textbooks, such as Kolichestvennyi analiz, which he wrote while still a student (St. Petersburg, 1891); a scientific autobiography, Catalytic Reactions at High Pressures and Temperatures (New York, 1936); and personal memoirs, Zhizn' odnogo khimika (New York, 1945), translated into English as The Life of a Chemist (Stanford, 1946). He also held several hundred patents, marking his most significant contributions to science: the formulation of high-octane gasoline, the "cracking" method now used to refine gas, and other discoveries relating to catalytic reactions (especially under high pressures and temperatures), and the synthesis of petroleum and its distillates.

Date Event
1867 November 21 (N.S.)
Born, Moscow
1887
Graduated, Mikhailovskoe artilleriiskoe uchilishche
1892
Graduated, Mikhailovskaia artilleriiskaia akademiia Married Varvara Dmitrievna Ermakova
1902
Professor, Mikhailovskaia artilleriiskaia akademiia
1907
Ph.D., chemistry, Petrograd University
1910
Major-General, Imperial Russian Army
1914
Director of Commission for Preparation of Explosives, Russian army
1916
Member, Russian Academy of Sciences
1927
Founded High Pressure Institute
1930
Left the U.S.S.R.
1931
Professor, Northwestern University
1939
Member, National Academy of Sciences, United States
1952 November 29
Died, Chicago, Illinois
Acquisition information:
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives in 1999.
Physical location:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

Terms of access:

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Vladimir N. Ipatieff papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Location of this collection:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003, US
Contact:
(650) 723-3563
hooverarchives@stanford.edu
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