Ivan Stranski

Ivan Nikolov Stranski ( Bulgarian Иван Николов Странски, English transcription Ivan Nikolov Stranski; born January 2, 1897 in Sofia, Bulgaria, † June 19, 1979 ) was a Bulgarian physical chemist, who mainly lived in Berlin from 1944 until his death in Germany. Here were the most important stages of his scientific career. Stranski made ​​fundamental theoretical work on surface chemistry and crystal growth, which is why he is often called the "father of crystal growth research." One of the basic mechanisms of crystal growth, the Stranski - Krastanow growth, or even the Kossel - Stranski theory are still associated with his name.

Life

Stranski, was born as the son of the Bulgarian court apothecary Nikola I. Stranski and his wife Maria, nee Krohn, a Deutschbaltin from the time of his Russian province of Livonia. He attended elementary school and the semi-classical department of I. boys school to Sofia, 1915, he passed the matriculation examination. He first began to study medicine, then turned to studying biology and took in 1918 to study chemistry at the University of Vienna, which he later continued at the University of Sofia and graduated there with a diploma. At the Friedrich- Wilhelms- University of Berlin, he turned to physical chemistry and in 1925 Dr. phil. doctorate.

After his admission a foreign member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in 1966 Stranski visited more often again his homeland. During one of these visits he died in Sofia. He was buried in Berlin.

Scientific career

From 1926 he worked as a professor of physical chemistry at Sofia University. Here he was appointed associate professor in 1929. With a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, he worked from 1929 to 1930 as a visiting scientist at the Max Volmer, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Technical University of Berlin. From 1935 to 1936 he worked as Head of the Physical- Technical Institute of the Urals in Sverdlovsk (USSR). 1937 appointed him to the Sofia University as a full professor. From 1941 to 1944 he was Visiting Professor at the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the Technical University of Wroclaw. 1944 appointed him to the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Scientific Member of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry at Berlin- Dahlem, later Fritz Haber Institute. From 1953 until his retirement in 1970, he was head of an independent department and deputy director of the Institute.

In 1945 he was appointed as successor to Max Volmer full professor and director of the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Technical University Berlin. 1951-1953 he was rector of the university. In 1963 he became Professor Emeritus.

Scientific Awards and Affiliations

• Galvani Medal of the University of Bologna, 1938
• Silver Hofmann Medal of the German Chemical Society, Berlin, 1939
• Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, 1939
• Cyril - Methodius Prize for Science, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1940
• Dr. rer. nat. H.C. the University of Breslau in 1940
• Auslandsmitgliedschft Kungliga Vetenskaps -och Vitterhetssamhället i Göteborg, 1940
• Honorary doctorate from the Free University of Berlin in 1954
• Honorary Member of the German Mineralogical Society, 1954
• Since 1959, a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich
• Honorary Senator of the Technical University of Berlin in 1963
• Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1964
• Dr. Ing E. H. the Technical University of Aachen, 1964
• Dr. techn. H.C. the Technical University of Vienna, 1964
• Foreign Membership of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, 1966
• Membership of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Halle, 1966

Trivia

Two research institutes in Germany bear his name:

• The I. - N. - Stranski - Institute of Metallurgy in Oberhausen and
• The Stranski - Laboratory for Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Technical University of Berlin ( 1967-2001 Iwan - N. - Stranski - Institute ).