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)

the present-day SICI came to being in the form of on-job interrelations of university, technical schools' labs and industrial laboratories. In Russia, even in the fust two decades of 20th century the triple alliance was rather vague. Its elements did exist, if very poorly interrelated. Before the 1st World War, the number of chemists and chemical engineers in Russia's industry was paltry 600, twice less than that in Germany (8, p. 35). 6. Chemical engineers in Russia were an open-ended professional group, supplemented and at times dominated by specialists from different fields with a more developed internal structure. Such neighbouring occupational groups included military and mining engineers, who made major contributions to the development of chemical and technological problems. V. N. Ipatiev, B. F. Luginin, P. R. Sobolovsky, A. N. Engelgart were military engineers, while D. P. Konovalov, N. S. Kurnakov, V. V. Lyubarsky and others were mining engineers. 7. Patent law serves as a resultant between interests of inventors and society, which uses their discoveries. A country, which marries these interests the best, gets further impetus for its own development. In Russia, however, the patent system was not as universal as in developed western countries, Germany in particular. Russia never joined the international convention on inventions. It was very difficult to patent inventions in Russia due to the red tape noose. Besides, domestic demand for inventions was rather often insufficient. Therefore, inventors tried to patent their inventions abroad or cede their copyrights to their employers with a view to start a new business using the innovation. . 8. There never existed in Russia any standing specialized magazine on chemical technology: their lifetime rarely exceeded 2-3 years. 9. The inadequate co-operation among chemical industry sectors stemmed from weak links among speialists in organic and inorganic chemical technologies, metallurgy and chemical machine-building. The most numerous group of chemical technologists in Russia comprised experts in food production, a sector still more technologically backward than production of organic paints or inorganic acids, bases and salts. Unlike in developed western countries, the bulk of chemical engineers in Russia was concentrated in educational establishments and governmental agencies rather than in industry. 10. No specialized chemical research institutes existed in Russia in early 20th century, which reflected a certain backwardness in the field of physico-chemistry, whereas most European (German) institutes were physico-chemical ones. This also reflected the under-developed theoretical foundation of chemical technology, which in early 20th century started to acquire physico-chemical nature. Literature 1. Lukianov, P. M.: Istoria khimicheskikh promyslov i chimicheskoy promyshlennosti Rossiyi (History of Russia's Chemical Industry), vol. 1—4. Moscow, 1948. 2. Rodny, A. N.: Stanovlenije i razvitije nauchnoi infrastructury chimicheskogo proizvodstva. (Emer. gence and Evolution of Scientific Infrastructure of Chemical Industry.) Razvitije nauchnogo i technicheskogo znanija kak factor uskoreniya razvitija proizvodstva (Development of Scientific and Technological Knowledge as a Factor of Boosting Industrial Development), tez. docl. konf. Kemerovo, 1986, pp. 133—135. 3. Rondy, A. N.: Formirovanije nauchnoi infrastructury chimicheskogo proizvodstva v kontse 18 veka — 20kh godakh 20go veka (Evolution of Chemical Industry's Scientific Infrastructure in late 18th — early 20th centuries), diss., Moscow, 1988, p. 204.