Sergey Lebedev (chemist)
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2019}}
{{Short description|Soviet chemist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Sergei Lebedev
| native_name = Сергей Лебедев
| native_name_lang = ru
| image = Sergey Lebedev.jpg
| caption = Lebedev in 1920
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1874|7|13|df=y}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sergey-Vasilyevich-Lebedev|title=Sergey Vasilyevich Lebedev | Russian chemist | Britannica|website=www.britannica.com|accessdate=8 September 2022}}{{Cite web|url=http://gatchina3000.ru/great-soviet-encyclopedia/bse/069/041.htm|title=Лебедев Сергей Васильевич / Большая советская энциклопедия|website=gatchina3000.ru|accessdate=8 September 2022}}
| birth_place = Lublin, Lublin Governorate, Congress Poland, Russian Empire
| residence =
| nationality = Russian
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1934|5|2|1874|7|25|df=y}}
| death_place = Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
| resting_place = Tikhvin Cemetery, Saint Petersburg
| field =
| alma_mater = St. Petersburg University
| work_institution = Saint Petersburg Academy for Military Medicine
| doctoral_advisor = Alexey Favorsky
| academic_advisors =
| doctoral_students =
| known_for =
| prizes =
| religion =
| footnotes =
| spouse = {{marriage|Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva|1905}}
}}
Sergei Vasilievich Lebedev ({{langx|ru|Сергей Васильевич Лебедев}}; 13 July 1874 – 2 May 1934) was a Russian/Soviet chemist and the inventor of polybutadiene synthetic rubber, the first commercially viable and mass-produced type of synthetic rubber.
Biography
Lebedev was born in 1874 in Lublin and went to school in Warsaw. In 1900, he graduated from St. Petersburg University and found work at the Petersburg Margarine Factory.
Starting in 1902, Lebedev moved from university to university in Russia, starting at the Saint-Petersburg Institute for Railroad Engineering. In 1904, he returned to St. Petersburg University to work under Alexey Favorsky (Stalin Prize, 1941, for contributions to the manufacture of synthetic rubber).
In 1905, he married his second wife, the artist Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva.{{cite web|url=http://graphic.org.ru/ostroumova-leb.html|title=Остроумова-Лебедева Анна Петровна (1871–1955)|publisher=История графики|language=Russian|accessdate=6 March 2015}}
In 1915, Lebedev was appointed Professor at the Women's Pedagogical Institute in St. Petersburg. After 1916, he was a Professor of the Saint Petersburg Academy for Military Medicine. In 1925, he became the leader of the Oil Laboratory (after 1928, the Laboratory of Synthetic Resins) at St. Petersburg University.
He died in Leningrad and is interred in Tikhvin Cemetery.
Works
Lebedev's main works are devoted to polymerisation of diene hydrocarbons. He was the first to research the polymerisation of butadiene (1910–1913). In 1910, Lebedev was the first to get synthetic rubber based on polybutadiene. His book Research in polymerisation of by-ethylene hydrocarbons (1913) became the bible for studies of synthetic rubber.
After 1914, he studied polymerisation of ethylene monomers, leading to modern industrial methods for manufacturing of butyl synthetic rubber and poly-isobutylene. Between 1926 and 1928, he developed a single-stage method for manufacturing butadiene out of ethanol. In 1928, he developed an industrial method for producing synthetic rubber based on polymerisation of butadiene using metallic sodium as a catalyst. This method became the base for the Soviet industry of synthetic rubber. The Soviets lacked reliable access to natural rubber, making the manufacture of synthetic rubber important. The first three synthetic rubber plants were launched in 1932–33. For butadiene production they used grain or potato ethanol as a feedstock. It caused a number of jokes about "Russian method of making tires from potatoes".
By 1940, the Soviet Union had the largest synthetic rubber industry in the world, producing more than 50,000 tons per year. During World War II, Lebedev's process of obtaining butadiene from ethyl alcohol was also used by the German rubber industry.{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/science/rubber-chemical-compound/The-rise-of-synthetic-rubber|title=rubber - The rise of synthetic rubber | Britannica|website=www.britannica.com|accessdate=8 September 2022}}
Another important contribution of Lebedev's was the study of the kinetics of hydrogenation of ethylene hydrocarbons and the development of a number of synthetic motor oils for aircraft engines.
Honors
- In 1931, Lebedev was awarded the Order of Lenin for his work on synthetic rubber
- In 1932, he became a full member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.
- In 1945 the National Institute for Synthetic Rubber was named "Lebedev's Institute".
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Commonscatinline}}
- [http://www.todayinsci.com/7/7_25.htm July 25 – Today In Science History] at www.todayinsci.com
- [http://www.answers.com/topic/butadiene Butadiene: Definition and Much More from Answers.com] at www.answers.com
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lebedev, Sergei Vasiljevich}}
Category:Scientists from Lublin
Category:Polymer scientists and engineers
Category:Saint Petersburg State University alumni
Category:Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Category:Academic staff of Saint Petersburg State University