A. G. STROMBERG - FIRST CLASS SCIENTIST, SECOND CLASS CITIZEN: LETTERS FROM THE GULAG AND A HISTORY OF ELECTROANALYSIS IN THE USSR - Hardcover

Compton, Richard Guy; Wildgoose, Gregory George; Zakharova, Elza A; Kabakaev, Alexander S; Stawpert, Michael T

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1848166753 ISBN 13: 9781848166752

Publisher: Imperial College Press, 2011

Synopsis

Armin G Stromberg was arguably one of the founding fathers of the technique of stripping voltammetry frequently used in chemical analysis, yet he is virtually unheard of in Western scientific circles. He was a brilliant scientist, but due to his German ancestry he was interred in one of the NKVD GULAG camps at the outbreak of the Second World War.This semi-biographical history presents the complete set of 74 surviving letters written by Stromberg to his wife during this period. The letters provide both historians and the interested public with a rare and unique glimpse into the everyday living conditions of inmates in one of the GULAG labour camps. The book also traces Stromberg's life following his release. More importantly, it relates how he founded the thriving Tomsk school to the wider historical context of electroanalysis in the USSR, drawing conclusions about the rate of scientific development as compared to the West and showing how 'wet analysis' remained of vital importance to industry long after equivalent measurements were made elsewhere.Readers will also appreciate how Stromberg's invaluable contributions in the Tomsk School of Electroanalysis laid the foundations for the extensive metallurgical extraction and nuclear industries that dominated the entire Siberian region for many years. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the life and times of an important, yet often overlooked scientist of the Second World War.

About this title

About the Author:

Richard G Compton is Professor of Chemistry and Aldrichian Praelector at Oxford University, United Kingdom where he is also Tutor in Chemistry at St John's College. Compton has broad interests in both fundamental and applied electrochemistry and electroanalysis including nanochemical aspects. He is the Physical Chemistry editor of the Oxford Chemistry Primers series which comprises about 100 short texts covering a wide range of essential topics in the undergraduate chemistry curriculum. He has published more than 1300 papers (h = 82; Web of Science, February 2015) and hold numerous patents. He has been Chinese Academy of Sciences Visiting Professor at the Institute of Physical Sciences, Hefei and is a Lifelong Honorary Professor at Sichuan University. He holds Honorary Doctorates from the Estonian Agricultural University and Kharkov National University of Radioelectronics (Ukraine) and is a Fellow of the RSC and of the ISE. He is also a Fellow of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and a Thomson Reuters Highly Cited. He is the Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Electrochemistry Communications.

Review:

Compton's book exactly paints that picture of a great scientist and humanist. It can be read by anybody interested in getting a picture of USSR science, and the hard struggle of its people to reach world significance. It does not need special background knowledge in science, and it will be valuable for historians as well as for the science community. -- Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry "Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry"

About this edition

• Publisher: Imperial College Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1848166753
• ISBN 13: 9781848166752
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 376