Boris Nikolsky
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Boris Petrovich Nikolsky (; – 4 January 1990), , was a
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...
who played a crucial role in the former Soviet program of
nuclear weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission, fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion, fusion reactions (thermonuclear weap ...
. Besides his work on the plutonium chemistry, Nikolsky did a pioneering work in ion exchanges applications in radiochemistry and physical chemistry, and was a professor of chemistry at the Leningrad University (now Saint Petersburg State University). He academician of the
Soviet Academy of Sciences The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991. It united the country's leading scientists and was subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (un ...
. Boris Nikolsky was a 1925 graduate of
Leningrad State University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...
. In the 1930s he studied the
ion exchange Ion exchange is a reversible interchange of one species of ion present in an insoluble solid with another of like charge present in a solution surrounding the solid. Ion exchange is used in softening or demineralizing of water, purification of ch ...
processes between aqueous solutions and solids. During that time Nikolsky developed the theory of ion exchange in
glass electrode A glass electrode is a type of ion-selective electrode made of a doped glass membrane that is sensitive to a specific ion. The most common application of ion-selective glass electrodes is for the measurement of pH. The pH electrode is an exampl ...
s. He derived equations that describe properties of glass electrodes as well as other types of
ion-selective electrode An ion-selective electrode (ISE), also known as a specific ion electrode (SIE), is a simple membrane-based potentiometric device which measures the activity of ions in solution. It is a transducer (or sensor) that converts the change in the concent ...
s depending on chemical structure and multi-component composition of glass, concurrent interference of ions (see Nikolsky-Eisenman equation and Nikolsky- Shultz-Eisenman thermodynamic ion-exchange theory of GEA. A. Belyustin. Silver ion Response as a Test for the Multilayer Model of Glass Electrodes. —Electroanalysis. Volume 11, Issue 10-11, pp. 799—803. 1999.
/ref>) and so on. Boris Nikolsky also actively participated in the Soviet nuclear program. In 1952-1974 he was the senior scientist and the chairman of scientific committee at the Soviet
nuclear fuel reprocessing plant Nuclear reprocessing is the chemical separation of fission products and actinides from spent nuclear fuel. Originally, reprocessing was used solely to extract plutonium for producing nuclear weapons. With commercialization of nuclear power, the ...
Mayak The Mayak Production Association (, , from 'lighthouse') is one of the largest nuclear facilities in the Russian Federation, housing Production reactor, production reactors (''non'' electricity) and a reprocessing plant. The closest settlement ...
, where he worked on the technology of processing and refining of
plutonium Plutonium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is a silvery-gray actinide metal that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four ...
. In 1961-1963 he was the chairman of the chemistry department at
Leningrad State University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...
.


General publications on the glass electrode theory

* Nikolskii, B. P.. Theory of the glass electrode. I. Theoretical. // J. Phys. Chem. (U.S.S.R.) (1937), 10, 495-503. *Nikolskii, B. P.; Tolmacheva, T. A. Theory of the glass electrode. II. Effect of boric anhydride and aluminum oxide on the electrode properties of glass. // J. Phys. Chem. (U.S.S.R.) (1937), 10, 504-12. *Nikolskii, B. P.; Tolmacheva, T. A. Theory of the glass electrode. III. Transfer from the hydrogen electrode function into the sodium function. // J. Phys. Chem. (U.S.S.R.) (1937), 10, 513-23. Boris Nikolsky was a co-author of the monumental textbook on physical chemistry and an editor-in-chief of the most comprehensive multivolume handbook of chemistry in Soviet Union.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikolsky, Boris Petrovich 1900 births 1990 deaths People from Ufa Governorate Saint Petersburg State University alumni 20th-century Russian chemists Soviet physical chemists Nuclear weapons program of the Soviet Union people Soviet inventors Scientists from Saint Petersburg Heroes of Socialist Labour Academic staff of Saint Petersburg State University Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Candidates of the Central Committee of the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union