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)

A. N. RODNY* FORMATION OF SCIENTIFIC INFRASTRUCTURE OF RUSSIA'S CHEMICAL INDUSTRY Analysis of interaction between chemistry and chemical industry is rather scarce in the country's literature on the history of the science. This is possibly because it is difficult to define the object of the analysis, which is outside the sphere of traditional interests of historians specializing in the history of chemical science and chemical industry. 1. The object of the analysis — which may be called a chemical-technological one — requires not only the combined use of cognitive tools of the scientific and production spheres, but also calls for a study along two mutually complementary lines, i. e. the cognitive and social ones. Noteworthy in this context is the foundation of the present analysis laid down by P. Lukianov in his research paper on the history of Russia's chemical industry (1). Though the author did not go beyond the end of the last century, the scope of the study and the insight provided therein make it in fact the first research paper of its kind both in the world and domestic historical-scientific literature to have brought to light organizational aspects of interaction between chemical science and chemical industry. The study traces down the origin and evolution of chemical technology as an independent scientific discipline. 2. On the basis of Lukianov's work I have developed a methodological approach to study the problem of interaction of science (chemistry) and production (chemical industry) in their dynamics, stressing which is the notion of scientific infrastructure of chemical industry (SICI) (2, 3). SICI is a system of organizational elements — such as research labs, university chairs, scientific and technical societies, scientific magazines; editorial boards, libraries, patent bureaus — and interrelations, within which the movement of chemical-technological knowledge from the moment of its inception to commercialization takes place. 3. SICI has country-specific features, which are graphically manifested in time of „unrest", be it wars, revolutions, economic reforms. However, in periods of ..evolutionary development" European and American science and industry integrated national features thus creating a system of multi-national scientific and industrial interaction. Russia also participated in this international co-operation. It followed Europe's suit in the field of science as an apprentice, in good sense of the word, aspiring to overcome the teacher, while in industrial field Russia was pursuing an open-doors policy. •Institute of the History of Natural Sciences and Technology, Moscow, Staropansky lane 1/5