Holzforschung 2018; 72(5): 433–434
Obituary Thomas Rosenau, Antje Potthast and Aleksander V. Vasilyev*
Professor Dr. Mikhail Yakovlevich Zarubin https://doi.org/10.1515/hf-2018-0079
Professor Dr. Mikhail Zarubin passed away on March 23rd, 2018 in St. Petersburg. Mikhail Yakovlevich Zarubin was born on December 10th in 1930 in the village of Kulemikha in the Gorky (now Nizhniy Novgorod) region of Russia. After graduating from high school in the settlement of Kalinino, he entered the Chemical Technological Faculty of Leningrad Forest Technical Academy (FTA), now known as St. Petersburg State Forest Technical University (FTU), from which he graduated with honors in 1954. From that time, his professional life was closely linked with the FTA: from 1954 to 1957 as a PhD student at the Department of Organic Chemistry under the supervision of Professor Dmitry Vyacheslavovich Tishchenko, from 1957 to 1962 as both a junior and a senior researcher, and later from 1962 at different professorship levels. Mikhail Y. Zarubin obtained his PhD (Candidate of Chemical Science) in 1961, and was appointed an
Associate Professor in 1964. The Doctor of Science degree (habilitation) followed in 1978, and in 1979 he became a Full Professor. Between 1967 and 1971 he taught at the Institute of Oil and Gas in Algeria, holding the post of Deputy Head of the Department of Chemistry, before he became Department Head in 1969. One year later Mikhail Zarubin published a well-known textbook on organic chemistry in French, initially intended for students of the Institute of Oil and Gas in Algeria, but later well accepted by a much wider international readership. In 1972 he was elected as the Head of the Department of Organic Chemistry at FTA, and he would guide the institution through the following 40 years until 2011, reading the student courses in organic chemistry throughout during that time. Between 1980 and 1985 Mikhail Zarubin was the Dean of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering, and from 1985 to 1996 Vice Rector of FTA. The list of professional awards and honors he received is extensive, but still can only insufficiently reflect the breadth of his activities and achievements. Among many other honors, he became a full member of the International Academy of Wood Science in 1989 and a full member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences in 1995. Mikhail Zarubin received the title of a Soros Professor in 1994, and was appointed Professor at the French Polytechnic Institute in Grenoble in 1997. In the same year he became an Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation. From 1990 Mikhail Zarubin was the chairman of the board of experts in chemistry of plant resources for UNESCO, where he prepared the directory of higher education institutions and research institutions dealing with the problems of chemistry of plant resources. From 2001 he acted as Director of the Department of Forest and Forest Product Technology at the UNESCO World University of Technology (WTU). Professor Zarubin carried out research in many different areas of wood-related sciences, but his focus was on lignin chemistry. He always attempted to foster fundamental science, to look beyond short-term hypes and to accompany development of new products and processes with a thorough analytical, chemical, physical and structural characterization. His flawless work ethics consisted of a very accurate style of working, a great fondness of fundamental research, the integration of modern and upcoming
Bereitgestellt von | De Gruyter / TCS Angemeldet Heruntergeladen am | 02.05.18 18:09
434 T. Rosenau et al.: Professor Dr. Mikhail Yakovlevich Zarubin analytical techniques and a very positive attitude towards cooperation and international collaboration. More than 270 scientific papers testify his scientific achievements. Mikhail Zarubin was one of the Russian key figures in promoting wood science, and lignin research in particular, in his country. When research in the area of wood science and wood chemistry had declined in the years of the decay of the former Eastern Block, he was the one to uphold the old tradition of wood research in Russia and navigated successfully the venerable Chemistry Department at St. Petersburg State Forest Technical University (FTU) through those difficult times of restructuring and renewal. He was the one to break out from the Iron Curtain in the area of wood chemistry, representing Russia – at that time USSR – in international meetings and later opened the way to international positions for his colleagues and students. Never forgetting his Russian roots, he was multilingual and a truly international scientist, having worked in countless cooperation projects, commissions and conference boards. Mikhail Zarubin was an ardent teacher and major adviser to innumerable students and scientists, having introduced them to the science and art of wood research and scientific endeavors in general. Having supervised 36 PhD thesis and five habilitations, he created a scientific school in the area of lignin chemistry that is now kept alive and carried on by his former students worldwide. He certainly belonged to the rare class of scientists who were not only able to convey knowledge, but also to shape personalities and to educate inexperienced young colleagues to become responsible and dedicated scientists. He proved that a skyrocketing academic career can well go hand in hand with personal modesty, and that honesty, collegiality and personal integrity are not only just compatible with performing best at science, but in fact, are the prerequisites to doing so. Prof. Mikhail Zarubin is survived by his wife, son, daughter, grandson and two granddaughters. Despite all his academic efforts, his family was the center of his life. Along with them and all the students and colleagues who knew him, we will miss Mikhail Zarubin and his warm personality. In the memory of his students, followers and colleagues, Mikhail Y. Zarubin will remain forever as a talented, generous and modest man, and as an example of selfless service to science and teaching. Many of us,
his former colleagues and students, are tremendously indebted to him for his scientific cooperation and guidance. He was, especially for his students in St. Petersburg, a key figure in their professional development – he had a decisive, positive influence on the course of their scientific careers. He surely was a protagonist in his scientific field – and most of his co-workers and colleagues will remember him as the Grand Seigneur of Russian lignin chemistry and wood research. However – and most importantly – he was a marvelous, cordial and uttermost a modest man. With his passing, not only has the wood science and lignin chemistry community lost one of its leading figures – his friends and former students, along with his family, are mourning the loss of a great human being. It is evident that Mikhail Zarubin’s scientific legacy will persist. But perhaps more importantly: his crowning achievements as a teacher of human qualities will live on in the hearts of his students and colleagues and will be passed on by them to next generations of wood scientists. We wish his family, especially his wife, much strength and faith, with a positive attitude towards the future. On behalf of his countless former colleagues, co-workers, students and friends, Leonid G. Akim, Yuriy M. Arkhipov, Mikhail Yu. Balakshin, Naceur Belgacem, Elman Bennacer, Valentin A. Elkin, Edward I. Evstigneyev, Dmitry V. Evtugin, Ludmila G. Diaychenko, Tatiyana G. Fedulina, Ivan V. Gribkov, Elena V. Grinenko, Adolf A. Leonovich, Andrey B. Nikandrov, Dmitry A. Ponomarev, Andrey V. Pranovich, Dmitry S. Ryabukhin, Victor I. Roshchin, Sergey M. Shevchenko, Vagif S. Sultanov, Ivan V. Sumerskii, Oleg S. Yuzikhin, Dmitry N. Vedernikov, Aleksander V. Vasilyev, Dmitry N. Zakusilo.
*Corresponding author: Aleksander V. Vasilyev, St. Petersburg State Forest Technical University, Department of Chemistry, Institutsky per. 5, St. Petersburg 194021, Russia, e-mail:
[email protected] Thomas Rosenau: University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Department of Chemistry, Muthgasse 18, A-1190 Vienna, Austria Antje Potthast: University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Department of Chemistry, Muthgasse 18, A-1190 Vienna, Austria
Bereitgestellt von | De Gruyter / TCS Angemeldet Heruntergeladen am | 02.05.18 18:09
