Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Vladimir N. Ipatieff papers
Date (inclusive): 1896-1953
Collection Number: 2000C14
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: In various languages
Physical Description:
2 manuscript boxes, 7 microfilm reels
(1.8 Linear Feet)
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.
Creator:
Ipatieff, Vladimir N. (Vladimir Nikolaevich), 1867-1952
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
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.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1999.
[Identification of item], Vladimir N. Ipatieff papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
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.
| 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 |
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.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Russians -- United States
Chemistry -- Russia
Chemistry -- Soviet Union