Draft:Yakov Ivanovich Gerasimov

• Comment: Likely notable but there are several sentences without any citations. Htanaungg (talk) 09:49, 20 December 2025 (UTC)

• Comment: The Scientific and pedagogical activities section is reasonably well sourced but the biographical and legacy sections have no or very few citations. Smallangryplanet (talk) 22:24, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

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Yakov Gerasimov
Яков Иванович Герасимов
Born	(1903-09-23)23 September 1903 Valdai, Novgorod Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	17 March 1983(1983-03-17) (aged 79) Moscow, Soviet Union
Alma mater	Moscow State University
Known for	Chemical thermodynamics in metallurgy EMF method application Semiconductor materials science
Awards	Order of Lenin (1951) Order of the October Revolution (1973) Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1978) USSR State Prize (1981)
Scientific career
Fields	Physical chemistry, Thermodynamics, Materials science
Institutions	Moscow State University
Doctoral advisor	Adam Rakovsky
Other academic advisors	Ivan Kablukov

Yakov Ivanovich Gerasimov (Russian: Яков Иванович Герасимов; September 23 [O.S. September 10] 1903 – March 17, 1983) was a Soviet physical chemist, a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1953), and a Laureate of the USSR State Prize (1981). His areas of scientific interest included chemical thermodynamics, materials science, metallurgy, and electronics.

Biography

Early life and education

Yakov Gerasimov was born on September 23, 1903, in the town of Valdai, Novgorod region, into the family of a doctor. The children in the Gerasimov family received a good upbringing and a general humanities education. From childhood, Yakov Gerasimov was fluent in English, French, and German, and was fond of history, literature, and music. He graduated from a high school in Rybinsk.

In early 1920, he began working at the Historical and Art Museum as a caretaker and paid manager. In the autumn of 1920, he entered the Chemistry Department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Moscow State University (MSU). At that time, the course in inorganic and physical chemistry was taught by the famous chemist Ivan Kablukov, who was one of the first to engage in thermodynamic research. By coincidence, in his third year, the student Gerasimov began working for him as a laboratory assistant (1923–1927) and later became Kablukov's lecture assistant.

Scientific and pedagogical activities

Throughout his scientific and pedagogical career, he was inextricably linked with Moscow University: as a student, a postgraduate student at the Chemical Research Institute at Moscow University, and a professor (from 1942). Gerasimov rose from a laboratory assistant to the head of the Department of Physical Chemistry, which he led for 30 years, from 1952 to 1982.

In parallel, he was invited to collaborate with other Moscow universities: from 1931–1934, Gerasimov was an employee of the State Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals, and he lectured at the D. I. Mendeleev Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology, the K. Liebknecht Pedagogical Institute, and the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.

Research

Gerasimov's scientific journey began with fundamental research in inorganic chemistry. His early works were devoted to the study of equilibria in water-salt systems and methods for obtaining chemically pure salts. These studies led to the formulation of important principles of crystallization processes and laid the theoretical foundation for his future career. In the 1930s, the scientist focused on experimental thermodynamics, culminating in his doctoral dissertation, "Thermal Dissociation of Metal Sulfides" (1940), the results of which were of great practical importance for the development of non-ferrous metallurgy.

In 1941, at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, a branch of the Department of Physical Chemistry was evacuated to Ashgabat. Here, scientists from the MSU chemical thermodynamics laboratory, under the leadership of Ya. I. Gerasimov, carried out assignments for defense enterprises. In 1943, back in Moscow, Ya. I. Gerasimov and his students and assistants continued their work in metallurgical thermodynamics.

A key contribution of Gerasimov to Soviet science was the development and implementation of innovative experimental methods. Under his leadership at the Faculty of Chemistry of MSU, the electromotive force (EMF) method was used for the first time in the USSR for the systematic study of the thermodynamic properties of metal alloys, oxides, and ferrites at high temperatures (up to 1500 °C). In parallel, effusion and ionization techniques for studying the volatility of substances were developed and improved, along with precision methods for measuring the volumetric properties of solutions. These methodological breakthroughs made it possible to obtain uniquely accurate data that formed the scientific basis of materials science.

Teaching

Over his teaching career, Ya. I. Gerasimov trained and educated several generations of university chemists; among his students are professors V. A. Geiderikh, G. F. Voronin, V. P. Vasilyev, and others.

Editorial and organizational activities

Ya. I. Gerasimov's active involvement in editorial and publishing activities began in 1953 when he was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. For many years, he headed the Scientific Council on Chemical Thermodynamics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, coordinating research in this field across the country. He was the USSR's representative on the commission of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).

For several years, he oversaw the chemical literature department at the Foreign Literature Publishing House, and from 1964, after its reorganization, at the new "Mir" publishing house. Gerasimov was a member of the editorial board of the international journal Chemical Thermodynamics. From 1958 until the end of his life, Ya. I. Gerasimov was the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Physical Chemistry.

Scientific works

The Russian school of specialists in the thermodynamics of inorganic substances was trained and developed based on the works of Ya. I. Gerasimov. Over his long scientific career, Ya. I. Gerasimov published more than two hundred works, including the multi-volume monograph Chemical Thermodynamics in Non-Ferrous Metallurgy, published twice, 1933-1934 and 1960-1973. He authored and edited many textbooks for higher education in Russia and abroad. The two-volume textbook Course of Physical Chemistry, of which Gerasimov was a co-author, was published in 1963 and 1973 and has been translated into many languages.

Major works

• Gerasimov, Ya. I., & Geiderikh, V. A. Thermodynamics of Solutions. Moscow: MGU, 1980. 184 pp.
• Gerasimov, Ya. I., et al. Textbook "Chemical Thermodynamics in Non-Ferrous Metallurgy." Practical Works in Physical Chemistry. Edited by Prof. A. V. Frost. Moscow: MGU, 1951. 56 pp.
• Gerasimov, Ya. I., et al. Chemical Thermodynamics in Non-Ferrous Metallurgy. A Reference Guide in 8 volumes. Moscow: Metallurgizdat, 1960. Vol. 1. 230 pp.
• Gerasimov, Ya. I., et al. Chemical Thermodynamics in Non-Ferrous Metallurgy. A Reference Guide in 8 volumes. Moscow: Metallurgizdat, 1960. Vol. 2. 262 pp.
• Gerasimov, Ya. I., et al. Course of Physical Chemistry. For chemistry faculties of universities. Under the general editorship of Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Prof. Ya. I. Gerasimov. Moscow, 1964. Vol. 1.
• Gerasimov, Ya. I., et al. Course of Physical Chemistry. For chemistry faculties of universities. 2nd ed., revised. Moscow, 1969.

Awards

• Order of Lenin (1951)
• Order of the October Revolution (1973)
• Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1978), and other medals.
• Laureate of the USSR State Prize (1981) for contributions to the development of metallurgical thermodynamics.

Legacy

He died on March 17, 1983, in Moscow and was buried at the Kuntsevo Cemetery.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Yakov Ivanovich Gerasimov, a scientific conference, the "Gerasimov Readings," was held on September 29-30, 2003. The event was organized by the scientific councils of the Russian Academy of Sciences on chemical thermodynamics and the physicochemical foundations of semiconductor materials science, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, and several commercial enterprises. The conference brought together more than 200 scientists and teachers from 35 scientific and educational institutions across 15 regions of Russia and the CIS countries (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine).

External links

• Gerasimov, Yakov Ivanovich on the official website of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS)
• Gerasimov Yakov Ivanovich (Archived profile)
• Yakov Ivanovich Gerasimov at the Chemistry Department of Moscow State University (MSU)
• Yakov Ivanovich Gerasimov (1903—1983) at the Laboratory of Chemical Thermodynamics, MSU
• Gerasimov Yakov Ivanovich in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
• Gerasimov, Yakov Ivanovich on the mathematical portal Math-Net.Ru