Alexander Nesmeyanov

Education

In 1909, parents sent Alexander to P. N. Strakhov's private Moscow gymnasium, which he graduated with honors. In 1917, he entered the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Moscow University. There were no entrance exams due to the passage of the revolution. Studying in this difficult time required great self-sacrifice and fanatical dedication. They studied in unheated rooms and there was not enough laboratory equipment. Transport was bad, and sometimes Alexander had to walk on foot to the university from Sokolniki. In 1920, classes at Moscow State University were frozen due to problems with heating, and Nesmeyanov entered the Military Pedagogical Academy on Bolshaya Gruzinskaya Street. At the same time, he worked in the laboratories of the Shanyavsky Moscow City People's University. By the end of 1920, Alexander Nikolayevich returned to studies at the academy and at Moscow University, where heating had already been restored. He meets the "future scientific mentor", Professor N. D. Zelinsky. While he was working as a night watchman at the faculty, Nesmeyanov lived in the laboratory of N. D. Zelinsky and devoting all his time to scientific experiments.

After university

After graduating from the university (1922), Nesmeyanov remained at the department of Academician N. D. Zelinsky. He held the positions of assistant (1924–1938), associate professor, professor (since 1935). He headed the Department of Organic Chemistry at the Institute of Fine Chemical Technology since 1938. From 1939 to 1954 Nesmeyanov was director of the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. In 1939 he was elected as a corresponding member of Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, and in 1943 - an academician of Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. In 1946 - 1951 he was an Academician-Secretary of the Department of Chemical Sciences of Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. Member of the VK P (b) since 1944. At the end of the Great Patriotic War, Alexander Nikolayevich returned to his native university. He headed the Department of Organic Chemistry (1944 – 1958), he was the dean of the Faculty of Chemistry (1944 – 1948), and then became the rector of Moscow State University(1948 – 1951). Thanks to Nesmeyanov's research in the field of organometallic compounds during the war and post-war years, a number of important results were obtained that are of great theoretical and practical importance. These studies were aimed at developing methods for the synthesis and studying the chemical properties of various representatives of an important and extensive class of compounds located at the junction of inorganic and organic chemistry. During the period of Nesmeyanov's rectorship, the construction of a large complex of university buildings on the Sparrow (Lenin) Hills began. Under his leadership, competent commissions were created to develop technical specifications for the placement of university units in a new location. They worked in close creative contact with the author's group of architects (full members of the Academy of Architecture of the USSR L. V. Rudnev, S. E. Chernyshev, architects A. F. Khryakov, P. V. Abrosimov), with builders (A. N. Komarovsky, A. V. Voronkov).

Simultaneously with the colossal construction, the development of the university structure is taking place, and curricula are being improved. Thus, courses on the history of sciences were introduced into the curricula of the natural faculties. In 1948, the Faculty of Biology was reorganized into the Faculty of Biology and Soil.

In 1949 construction began on an agrobiological station in Chashnikovo. At the same time, the Faculty of Geology was created and the departments were organized: crystallography and crystal chemistry; history of geological sciences. In 1950, assistance was provided to the University of Chisinau with literature and equipment.

In 1951, after the death of the President of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, S. I. Vavilov Nesmeyanov was summoned to a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee, G. M. Malenkov, who offered to take the vacant post:

I replied that such an honor was not to be refused, but felt it necessary to state what might prevent me from accepting such an honorable duty: I began with my vegetarian beliefs, saying that these beliefs had nothing to do with Tolstoyism. Further, I said that in 1940 my brother was arrested, and his fate is still unknown to me. Finally, he recalled that the tradition is such that the president of the Academy of Sciences has so far been non-partisan, and that this is hardly an accident, and I am a member of the party... And one of the arguments did not make the slightest impression on Malenkov. The conversation showed me clearly that the matter was settled.

On February 16, 1951, at an extraordinary session of the general meeting of the Academy of Sciences, Nesmeyanov was elected its president. In 1952, he founded the Institute for Scientific Information.

In 1954, he opened the Institute of Organoelement Compounds of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, which he led until his death (at present, the institute bears the name of A.N. Nesmeyanov). On May 19, 1961, Nesmeyanov resigned as president of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union of his own free will. In May 1969, at a meeting of the Academic Council of the Institute of Organoelement Compounds, Nesmeyanov spoke out against being elected a senior researcher Candidate of Chemical Sciences Rokhlin, stating “I am a vindictive person. Last year, Rokhlin was among those who, at an institute rally, spoke out against the introduction of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia. This speech did not affect the results of the vote, and Rokhlin was elected a senior researcher. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR 3-5 convocations (1950 – 1962).

He was one of the academicians of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, who in 1973 signed a letter from scientists to the Pravda newspaper condemning "the behavior of Academician A. D. Sakharov ". In the letter, Sakharov was accused of having "made a number of statements discrediting the state system, the foreign and domestic policy of the Soviet Union", and academicians assessed his human rights activities as "defaming the honor and dignity of the Soviet scientist".

He was interested in literature and painting, wrote poetry, sketches, was an avid mushroom picker. Died January 17, 1980. He was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Family

He has been married twice. The first wife – Nina Vladimirovna Koperina (1900–1986) – is a chemist, she has worked at Moscow State University. Children from the first marriage: Olga (1930–2014) – candidate of chemical sciences; Nikolai (1932–1992) – Doctor of Chemical Sciences, Professor я. The second wife – Vinogradova Marina Anatolyevna (1921–2013) – is a philologist and a writer. Nesmeyanov had two brothers and a sister: Andrey Nesmeyanov (1911–1983) – radiochemist, head of the radiochemistry department of Moscow State University, professor, corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. Vasily Nesmeyanov (1904–1941) – worked as deputy head of the Topographic and Geodetic Service of the Main Directorate of Geodesy and Cartography under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. He was shot on July 28, 1941 on charges of espionage. He was rehabilitated on September 17, 1955 by the decision of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR. Tatyana Nesmeyanova (1908–1991).