Remembering an unsung catalysis superhero

Abstract

The man looked over one shoulder, then the other, surreptitiously making sure no one was within earshot. Convinced the coast was clear, with a Russian accent, he said, “Ipatieff did the right thing to defect.” Northwestern University’s Tobin J. Marks doesn’t recall the cautious man’s name, but he does remember that the Soviet chemist waited to catch Marks alone in a quiet corner at a Gordon Research Conference on catalysis in the early 1980s to share his thoughts. At the time, the Cold War was dragging on. The man was referring to Vladimir Nikolayevich Ipatieff, the self-taught chemist who, in the early part of the 20th century, laid much of the groundwork for catalytic organic chemistry and petrochemical refining, cornerstones of today’s global chemical enterprise. Born in Moscow just over 150 years ago, Ipatieff rose to prominence as a chemist during World War I. At the behest of Czar Nicholas