Technikatörténeti szemle 19. (1992)

KÖNYVISMERTETÉS - Papers of the First „MINERALKONTOR” International Conference on the History of Chemistry and Chemical Industry (Veszprém, 12-16 August, 1991)

several of university buildings, among them the main budding, were severly damaged. The chemical laboratories were saved. However, the lack of textbooks and laboratory equipments hindered significantly the age groups returning from the war in their beginning academic studies. In the early fifties the situation improved considerably and the academic life was gradually more normal. The government made also big efforts to improve the situation. The instrumentation of the laboratories was gradually updated with modern spectrometers and X-ray diffractometers of various kinds. The sixties were a time of rapid progress and development. New chairs in radiochemistry and wood and polymer chemistry (1974: polymer chemistry) were formed. Courses were enlarged and updated. The academic exchange with Western countries flourished and several young Finnish scientist moved abroad. The building program of the chemical laboratory was intensively discussed but no definite decision was made. Instead a new building for biochemistry and radiochemistry in the near of the old university clinics was erected. During the fifties and sixties a growing political opinion demanded enlargement of the academic education to other parts of Finland than Helsinki area and Turku. New universities were founded in various parts of the country: Oulu (1958), Jyvaskyla (1966), Tampere Technical University (1965), Joensuu (1966), Kuopio (1966) and Lappeenranta Technical University (1979). Teaching and research in chemistry was started a few years after the foundation. A transfer of chairs with their whole staff and equipments was also discussed. The old universities vigorously resisted the transfer of resources and won partially the battle. However, in the end their resources were markedly reduced and allocated to the newly founded chairs. Despite of the above politics a chair in analytical chemistry was founded in the year 1972. At present (1990) the chemistry group in Helsinki University includes over 100 teachers and research workers of various ranks. The number of students with chemistry as the main subject is 329, of them 204 women (31. 12. 1990). In the end of the sixties a student unrest sweeped over European universities. Finland shared the same fate with a marked left wing character. In this connection to satify the students the ministry of education tried to change the academic educational system in a more centralized direction. A new ordination for humanistic and science studies was introduced. By now, 20 years later it is clear that it was a big failure. Now a more liberal system has been introduced. Another trial hampered teaching and research in the seventies. The oil crisis reduced the funds for academic teaching and research to a very small amount. The good years in the beginning eighties restored partially the situation. The educational system has again experienced hardship through the worldwide economic crisis in the beginning nineties. It will take years to repair this damages. After all it has been possible to make valuable research. The organic chemistry of terpenes and wood extractives was studied for a long time upto the seventies by the schools of Niilo J. Toivonen (professor 1928—57) and of his successor Pekka Hirsjarvi (1959—82). In the end of the forties reaction kinetics was introduced by Eero Tommila (professor in physical chemistry 1944—67). Macromolecular chemistry was started by Hannes Sihtola (docent 1952—82). In the fifties lignin chemistry was started by Terje Enkvist (1951—71). In the sa-