Berkenheim, Abram Moiseevich

He was born in the family of the merchant of the first guild of Moses Solomonovich Berkenheim and his wife Agrafena Kogan ^[1] . On the maternal side is a relative of Karl Marx ^[2] .

He received secondary education in the 4th and 1st Moscow gymnasiums (graduating from 1885). In 1890 he graduated from the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University , defending a thesis on the subject of " Terpenes and Camphors and Their Connection with Other Series of Organic Compounds", for which he was awarded a gold medal. As early as 1889 , while simultaneously doing his graduate work, A. M. Berkenheim was involved as a teacher at the Department of Organic and Analytical Chemistry , which at that time was headed by the famous Russian chemist prof. V.V. Markovnikov . Prof. Markovnikov was very appreciated by A.M. In 1890, Birkenheim secured his abandonment at the university, despite opposition from the reactionary university authorities, who objected to the admission of Jews to pedagogical and scientific work within the walls of Moscow University.

Business trip to Germany

In 1891, Abram Moiseevich was sent to Germany , to the University of Gottingen to the world's largest chemist, prof. Otto Wallach , who later received the Nobel Prize , the founder of modern chemistry of terpenes. Having defended a Wallachian doctoral dissertation on the topic “On Menthol, ” A.M. Berckenheim received a doctorate from the University of Gottingen summa cum laude , which means "with the highest distinction", and at the same time an offer from prof. Wallach stay forever in Germany and join the faculty of the University of Göttingen at his chair as an assistant in the department of doctoral dissertations . Abram Moiseevich categorically rejected this extremely flattering proposal, having decided to return to Moscow University and give his knowledge to serve his homeland. But his joyful and honorable return to his homeland was soon overshadowed.

In Moscow, in 1895, immediately upon arrival, he received an insulting letter from the very famous and influential then representative of the reactionary part of the Moscow professors, professor of chemistry at Moscow University NN Lyubavin , who, like other chemists, according to established custom, Berckenheim sent an impression of his doctoral dissertation. The letter was as follows:

“Gracious sovereign Abram Moiseevich!

In order to avoid future misunderstandings, I am returning with this the book you sent, since I don’t want to accept anything from the Jews and don’t want them to consider me theirs. ”

Emigration

Deeply personally offended, Abram Moiseevich decided to immediately leave the university, and a week later left Russia altogether. Abroad A.M.Berkenheim took an active part in organizing assistance to Jewish immigrants who were forced to leave their homeland in connection with the imperial decree and the subsequent order of the Moscow governor-general, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (by the Highest Order on March 28, 1891 to remove the law of 1865 years, granting Jewish artisans the right of universal residence, they were forbidden to stay in Moscow and the Moscow province, and all who lived here had to be evicted in a short time in the areas designated for Pale constant) ^[3] .

This circumstance prompted A.M.Berkenheim to devote all his strength and energy to helping compatriots who were resettled in search of opportunities to live and work in distant countries, in particular, Argentina .

Starting from this time, Abram Moiseevich for many years conducted a great public work, dealing with issues of resettlement and the organization of agricultural work for Jews. At the same time, being carried away by the general issues of the resettlement of European peoples, A.M. Berckenheim begins to study resettlement in a number of countries where emigration or immigration of European peoples takes place. He visits over 30 different countries ( South America , the United States , Egypt , Palestine , Canada , Uruguay , Tunisia and others).

During this time, he released a number of works of an economic nature that attracted the attention of specialists.

Over the years of his wanderings, Abram Moiseevich was not able to work scientifically in the field of chemistry . But still he does not forget his beloved science, is constantly interested in its achievements, attends scientific conferences and congresses, communicating with representatives of advanced European and American chemical thought. This fruitful communication contributes to the transition of A.M. Berckenheim to new ideas in the field of chemistry, based on revolutionary shifts that were identified in the doctrine of the structure of matter, in electronic theory , and which subsequently served as the basis for his scientific work.

Return to Russia

Returning to Moscow in 1908 , Abram Moiseevich was again invited by N.D. Zelinsky to Moscow University, but again met resistance from reactionary university circles. It took a lot of stubborn struggle, in which K. A. Timiryazev took an energetic part, until, finally, A. M. Berkenheim managed to take a modest place as a laboratory assistant in the laboratory of organic and analytical chemistry at Moscow University. Soon after, thanks to the energetic help of A.N. Reformatsky , A.M. Birkenheim managed to get the department of analytical chemistry at Moscow Higher Women's Courses (1910).

At that time, analytical chemistry at the Faculty of Medicine was considered a completely secondary subject and received very little attention. But A.M.Berkenheim, believing that the fundamentals of chemistry and chemical thinking can be learned precisely from the material of analytical chemistry and that knowledge of the fundamentals of chemistry is a prerequisite for a full and comprehensive medical education, managed to create a fascinating course based on the principles of the electronic theory of the structure of matter . Presenting the latest achievements of science to students at lectures, while possessing the gift of surprisingly easy to pose the most difficult questions to master, he attracted the attention of medical students to the study of chemistry and ensured that many doctors who even graduated from the medical faculty came to listen to his lectures.

At the same time, Abram Moiseevich was one of the first scientists in general (and, undoubtedly, the first in Russia ), who was able to apply the latest achievements of physical science in the field of electronic structure of matter to teaching the basics of chemistry to students. The whole series of concepts that are now included in all chemistry textbooks for higher and even high school, was encountered by many very hostile at the time due to the unwillingness to break the methodological traditions that were well established in the teaching of chemistry. A.M.Berkenheim had throughout his life to fight for these new ideas in chemistry and for his right to apply them in teaching.

The course he created was published in 1910 under the title "Theoretical Foundations of Analytical Chemistry . " This book subsequently, having been significantly expanded and revised, has survived a number of publications. Already in this book, A. M. Berkenheim introduces chapters on the fundamentals of physical and colloid chemistry , the knowledge of which he considered necessary for a physician, and later (after the October Socialist Revolution ) with his active assistance, the course of physical and colloid chemistry is introduced into the curricula of all medical universities.

Until 1917, A.M. Birkenheim was a teacher of analytical chemistry at the medical faculty of the Moscow Institute of Housing Medicine .

During the First World War, together with his younger brother B.M. Berckenheim in collaboration with N.D. Zelinsky designed gas masks ^[4] .

After 1917

In 1917 , when the Soviet government began to create the pharmaceutical industry , which had almost never existed before, Abram Moiseevich was entrusted with the creation of a special department at the 2nd Moscow State University , which was to train specialists for this industry.

At the very occurrence of this department A.M. Berckenheim had to endure a stubborn struggle against the tendency to limit these cadres to the qualifications of more or less educated pharmacists . He considered it necessary to create the staff of real full-fledged chemists- engineers , specialists in chemistry and technology of synthetic medicinal substances. And it was Abram Moiseevich Berkenheim and the department created by him that determined, as they would say now, the vector of development created in October 1918 by the resolution of the collegium of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR of the 2nd Moscow State University ^[5] .

Teaching students on the basis of the latest scientific achievements, teaching them to think creatively, constantly linking theory with practice, with a lean production plan and experience, constantly monitoring the work of each individual student, A.M. prepared for the industry many hundreds of well-trained specialists who successfully worked in almost all chemical plants of the Soviet Union engaged in organic synthesis .

Many of A.M.Berkenheim's students successfully held important posts, and all of them gratefully recalled the kind of attention and love he cultivated with each individual student, sometimes helping him not only in scientific matters, but also in all the troubles of “everyday life” order ”, which both employees and students have always addressed to him. They always met with his careful participation and effective help.

It was thanks to his energy and enthusiasm during the difficult 1920s for the country that the 2nd Moscow State University was able not only to preserve, but also to increase its potential: he trained qualified specialists urgently needed for the young Soviet pharmaceutical industry, while conducting research on a number of directions of chemistry and chemical technology. In 1930, on the basis of the 2nd Moscow State University, the Moscow Institute of Fine Chemical Technology was created, in which its department of synthetic drugs was reorganized into the Department of Fine Organic Technology (now the Department of Chemistry and Technology of Biologically Active Compounds of the Moscow University of Fine Chemical Technologies named after M .V. Lomonosov). Abram Moiseevich directed this department until his death.

In the 1930s part-time taught at the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology named. D. I. Mendeleev ^[6] .

While maintaining his department at the Faculty of Medicine, which grew after the revolution as a result of a series of reorganizations at the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute, he took up the Department of General Chemistry in the latter, combining teaching medical students in five disciplines: general chemistry , qualitative analysis, quantitative analysis, physical and colloid chemistry.

Birkenheim constructed the course of general chemistry at this institute in exactly the same way as his previous course of analytical chemistry, based on the electronic theory of the structure of matter. From the very beginning, a medical student was presented with a modern point of view on the structure of the atom and on the nature of chemical reactions; Thus, a student’s conscious attitude to chemical processes was achieved and the memorization of obscure formulas was completely eradicated. This modern structure of the course and a peculiar method of teaching students had many followers in a number of other higher educational institutions of the USSR, where student training was based on the principle that was developed and first applied by A. M. Berkenheim.

Considering that in order to train a good specialist chemist, it is not enough to train him in the laboratory, A. M. Berkenheim organized a semi-factory installation at his laboratory, where all his students were trained. Not having sufficient funds for the equipment of this semi-factory installation, he transferred to his expenses for its improvement his personal bonus of 20,000 rubles , which he received from industry in 1927 for setting up the production of one drug, atofan.

Scientific activity

He took an active part in the development of production methods for many of the most complex synthetic drugs and then set up these plants in factories. He and his students own the development of methods and the production of such drugs as atofan, luminal , novocaine , anestezin , antipyrine and other drugs that had never been produced in our country before, but imported from abroad.

A.M.Berkenheim, together with his students, also carries out a number of works on the rationalization of existing industries, on the use of waste, etc.

These include:

• Obtaining guaiacol and guetola from dichlorobenzene, which is a waste in the production of chlorobenzene ;
• Preparation of benzoic acid and benzaldehyde by oxidation of toluene with waste in the production of potassium permanganate ;
• Obtaining synthetic drugs signolin and istitsin from waste in the production of alizarin dyes and several others.

For many years A.M. Berckenheim, along with his staff, addressed the chemical use of shale resin . The result of these works was to obtain export ichthyol and also the invention of two new drugs - albichtol and chlorichtin , which went through a clinical trial and were very beneficial in treating a number of gynecological, skin, surgical, nervous and other diseases.

Along with this, he belongs to the idea of ​​using shale resin for flotation purposes, where it has found wide application.

At the initiative of A.M. Berckenheim is widely used in a wide range of industries. Shale resin products developed by his method have also been found. These products went through a factory test, and very good results were obtained.

All these works on the chemical use of shale resin, performed by him together with his employees, are published in various journals, and in addition they have prepared for publication a whole book "On the chemical use of shale resin . "

His ideas formed the basis of his courses in organic chemistry - at the 1st MSU - and the chemistry of synthetic medicines - at the 2nd MSU, and then at the Institute of Fine Chemical Technology. On the basis of these same ideas, a plan was developed for the course “Chemistry and Technology of Synthetic Medicines” published by him in 1935 .

The theoretical views of A.M.Berkenheim laid the foundation for his scientific school, which brought up numerous students and gave a number of experimental works devoted to the proof of his ideas in the field of organic chemistry. Among his most important works are the following:

• Isomerism of sulfo derivatives of anthracene and anthraquinone in connection with the electronic structure of organic compounds.
• Electronic theory in the chemistry of disulfo derivatives of anthraquinone .
• Chemistry of thiokol in terms of electronic theory.
• Electronic theory in the chemistry of naphthalene monosulfonates.
• Properties of isomeric nitro compounds according to the views of electronic theory.
• The study of the nature of nitrogen in amine oxides from the point of view of electronic theory.
• On rearrangement of charges of carbon ions of the phenyl group during the formation of aromatic amine oxides.
• Electroisomeric ortho-toluidines and their derivatives.
• Antimalarial substances in terms of the electronic structure of molecules.
• Synthesis of 4-methoxy-2-amino-carbazole.
• The mechanism for producing naphthalene from? -Nitronaphthalene.
• Cleavage of hydrobromic acid from dibromo derivatives of the fat series.
• Production of unsaturated hydrocarbons from furfural С _n Н _2n-2 - synthesis of piperylene .

Being interested in the theoretical explanation of chemical processes throughout his life, A.M. Berkhenheim devotes much time to calculating the thermal effects introduced by individual chemical elements into the general energy balance of chemical reactions. He managed to prove that the magnitudes of these thermal effects obey the same laws as other properties of individual elements, i.e., that they are a periodic function of the atomic number of the element. Thus, he owes the merit of spreading the Mendeleev law to the energy properties of elements.

This work is entitled Zur Elektronenthermochemie der anorganischen Verbindungen , published in Zeitschr. fur physikal. Chem. , attracted attention abroad.

Along with a great pedagogical and scientific work, Abram Moiseevich constantly actively participated in the public life of the country in general and, in particular, in the life of those institutions in which he worked.

He took a large part in the work of the Chemicalization Committee, in the Committee for Higher Technical Education at the Central Executive Committee of the USSR , in the Committee for Higher School Affairs at the USSR Council of People's Commissars , in the Central Bank of the section of scientific workers, where he took an active part in the development of those provisions that then went into effect .

Active participation of A.M. Berckenheim accepted in the work of the Higher Attestation Commission , where he constantly upheld the increase in the level of requirements for faculty, as well as the assignment of academic degrees.

In 1934, Abram Moiseevich Berkenheim was elected a member of the Moscow Council , where he took an active part in the work of the industrial section.

He died immediately after the next lecture. He was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy cemetery (3 plots).

Wife - Frida Izrailevna Birkenheim (1888-1978).

Brothers:

• Boris Moiseevich Berkenheim (1885-1959), professor, chemist, head of the department of inorganic chemistry at Moscow State University. Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the RSFSR . Founder of the journal " Advances in Chemistry ".
• Grigory Moiseevich Berkenheim (1872-1919) - family doctor of the family of L. N. Tolstoy . During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 he worked as a doctor in an officer’s hospital, and was in charge of the medical unit of the Harbin Administration. He was awarded the orders of St. Stanislaus and St. Anna of the III degree ^[7] ;
• Alexander Moiseevich Birkenheim (1878-1932) is a Social Revolutionary , one of the founders of the Political Red Cross and leaders of the cooperative movement in Russia, chairman of the Union of Jewish Cooperative Societies in Poland (his grandson is writer S. E. Kaledin ).
• Leon Moiseevich Berkenheim - an early dead doctor, suffered from a mental illness.

Children:

• Leonid Abramovich Berkenheim is an engineer. Graduated from Moscow State Technical University. N.E. Bauman .
• Maria Abramovna Berckenheim (1911-1944) - chemist, assistant of the chemistry department of the 2nd Moscow State University.
• Anna Abramovna Berckenheim (1912—?)
• Alexandra Abramovna Berckenheim (1915—2017)

Grandchildren:

• Mikhail Leonidovich Berckenheim (born 1945) - professor, gynecologist.
• Galina Leonidovna Berkenheim is a children's writer.

• Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the RSFSR (1934)

• Über Mentho. Inaugural-Dissertation. WF Kaestner, 1892.
• The study of menthol. St. Petersburg: Printing house of V. Demakov, 1892.
• Argentina and its colonies. Article One M .: Tipo-lithography of the partnership of I.N. Kushnerev and Co. °, 1894.
• The development of colonization and the establishment of agricultural colonies in Argentina. // Russian thought. - M., 1894. - No. 9, 10.
• Argentina and its colonies. The second article. M.: Association of printing houses A.I. Mamontov, 1895.
• Life in the pampas of South America (From a trip to Argentina). M.: Association of printing houses A.I. Mamontov, 1895. - 30 p.
• Geographical conditions and nature of the Argentine Republic (with map). M.: Association of printing houses A.I. Mamontov, 1895.
• The current economic situation of Syria and Palestine. M.: Association of printing houses A.I. Mamontov, 1897.
• Migration in Siberia (According to personal observations and official data). M .: Typographic lithography of the partnership I. N. Kushnerev and Co. °, 1902.
• Theoretical Foundations of Analytical Chemistry (Lectures given to students of the Medical Faculty of Moscow Higher Women's Courses in 1910). M .: Published by listeners T. Thebes, K. Kryukova and A. Begicheva, 1910.
• Fundamentals of Theoretical Chemistry: Introduction to Qualitative Chemical Analysis (Course of lectures given to students of Moscow Higher Women's Courses). M .: Student Publishing House, 1914.
• Fundamentals of the electronic chemistry of organic compounds (course of lectures given to students of Moscow Higher Women's Courses in 1916). M .: Printing house of the partnership of I. D. Sytin, 1917.
• Chemistry and technology of synthetic drugs. M. — L .: The main edition of the chemical literature, 1935.
• Workshop on synthetic medicinal and aromatic substances. M. — L .: Goskhimizdat, 1942.

• Zelinsky N.D. Honored Worker of Science and Technology prof. Abram Moiseevich Berkenheim. Obituary // Advances in Chemistry, vol. VIII, no. 1.— 1939.— S. 148-153
• Zubov P.I. , Rodionov V.M. , Syrkin Y.K. From the history of chemistry. Outstanding Soviet chemist Abram Moiseevich Berkenheim // Uspekhi Khimii, vol. XIX, no. 2.— 1950.— S. 252-258
• Volkov V.A., Kulikova M.V. Moscow professors of the 18th - early 20th centuries. Natural and technical sciences. - M .: Janus-K: Moscow textbooks and cartolithography, 2003. - P. 30-31. - 294 p. - 2000 copies. - ISBN 5-8037-0164-5.
• King M.M. The fate of the Birkenheim brothers - relatives of Karl Marx in Russia // Science and Life , No. 8.— 1997.— S. 76-79

• Abram Moiseevich Berkenheim on the Academician website
• Berkenheim Abram Moiseevich (neopr.) . Chronicle of Moscow University . Date of treatment November 7, 2017.