Alexander Pavlovich Vinogradov

Born on August 9, 1895 in the village of Petretsovo, Romanovo-Borisoglebsky uyezd, Pongilovskaya volost, Yaroslavl province, nowadays Borisoglebskaya rural area of Tutaev municipal district of Yaroslavl region, in a family of peasants. Russian. At the end of agricultural work the whole family went to the capital of the Russian Empire, St. Petersburg, to earn money. At the end of the nineties of the 19th century the Vinogradovs moved to St. Petersburg for permanent residence.

In 1907 he graduated with honors from the First Spassky City Primary School in St. Petersburg.

In 1924 Alexander Vinogradov graduated from Leningrad Military Medical Academy and in 1925 - Chemical Department of Leningrad State University. From 1924 he worked in academician N.D. Zelinsky's laboratory, was a student and closest collaborator of the great Russian scientist academician Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky. From 1925 to 1930 he was an assistant to the department of physical chemistry of the Military Medical Academy, simultaneously from 1926 to 1928 he was a research associate of the Commission for the Study of Natural Productive Forces of the USSR Academy of Sciences. From 1928 he was head of department and senior chemist, and from 1934 to 1945 he was deputy director of the Biogeochemical Laboratory of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Also from 1939 he worked in the Isotope Commission of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and from 1940 he was Deputy Chairman of the Commission on Isotopes and the Commission on Uranium Problems of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

In 1945-1947, he was the Director of the V.I. Vernadsky Laboratory of Geochemical Problems of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1947, he organizes and becomes the head of the V.I. Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

А. P. Vinogradov, as a leading expert of the USSR in the field of analytical chemistry, was involved in the creation of atomic weapons and nuclear industry in the Soviet Union. He headed the work on analytical support of production of fissile materials of high purity. Under his leadership highly sensitive methods of analysis were developed.

Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on October 29, 1949 (stamped "Not subject to publication") "for outstanding services to the state in carrying out special missions" Vinogradov Alexander Pavlovich was awarded the title Hero of Socialist Labor with the award of the Order of Lenin and the gold medal "Hammer and Sickle".

In 1953, A.P. Vinogradov founded and headed the first in our country chair of geochemistry at the Geological Faculty of Moscow State University.

Creator of the national geochemical scientific school. Academician Vinogradov's research extends from biogeochemistry to cosmochemistry. He studied changes in the chemical composition of organisms in connection with their evolution, especially the content in organisms of rare and trace elements (microelements); he introduced into science the concept of "biogeochemical provinces" and described the associated biogeochemical endemics of plants and animals; in addition - developed a biogeochemical method for mineral resources.

On the basis of isotopic studies, A.P. Vinogradov showed that photosynthetic oxygen is formed from water, not carbon dioxide. In the field of geochemistry he carried out the idea of creating a physicochemical theory of geological processes. He studied the geochemistry of a number of elements, in particular of rare elements in soils, and the composition of the rocks of the East European platform; he determined the average composition of the main rocks of the Earth. He proposed a hypothesis of the universal mechanism of the formation of the planetary shells on the basis of the zone melting of the silicate phase and developed the idea of the chemical evolution of the Earth.

A.P. Vinogradov was the chief editor of the Atlas of lithological-paleogeographical maps of the Russian platform (1960-1961) and the 4-volume Atlas of lithological-paleogeographical maps of the USSR (1967-1975) and a series of books on the analytical chemistry of individual elements. Editor-in-chief of the journals Science and Humanity (since 1973), Nature (since 1951), and Journal of Analytical Chemistry (1946-1962).

Academician A.P. Vinogradov created a new direction in the Soviet science - isotope geochemistry - fractionation in natural processes of isotopes of light elements "O" (oxygen), "S" (sulfur), "C" (carbon), "K" (potassium) and "Pb" (lead); he made an invaluable contribution to the study of ocean geochemistry. Together with his collaborators he made determinations of the absolute age of the Earth, of the shields - Baltic, Ukrainian, Aldan and others, as well as of the rocks of India, Africa and other regions; he studied the composition of meteorites (different forms of carbon, gases and others).

Vinogradov A.P. developed the problem of planetary chemistry. Thus, according to the data obtained with the help of interplanetary space stations, he established the presence of basaltic rocks on the surface of the Moon and determined the composition of the atmosphere of Venus. Under his supervision the lunar soil samples (101 grams in total) delivered in a special capsule on September 24, 1970 by a return vehicle of the Soviet Luna-16 automatic interplanetary station from the surface of the Sea of Plenty were examined.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on August 20, 1975 in connection with his outstanding achievements in the organization of Soviet science and in connection with the 80th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Pavlovich Vinogradov, Vice President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, was awarded the second gold medal "Sickle and Hammer" with the award of the Order of Lenin.

Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Department of Chemical Sciences (1943). Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Department of Geological and Geographical Sciences (1953). Doctor of sciences (1935). Professor (1954). He had worked in several tens of scientific councils and commissions of the AS USSR.

Academician A.P. Vinogradov was a member of the International Pugwash Conference of Scientists - Defenders of Peace since 1958. He was elected a member of several foreign academies of sciences (Yugoslavia, GDR, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, India, Hungary, FRG); honorary member of the American and French Geological Societies, the Chemical Society of India and the Finnish Scientific Society; honorary president of the International Association of Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry.

Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of the 3rd convocation.

Since 1954, AP Vinogradov lived in the city-hero of Moscow. He died on November 16, 1975. He was buried in Moscow at Novodevichy Cemetery.