From the beginning to the present

In September 1885, the Kharkiv Practical Institute of Technology was founded. Among the first departments of the institute was the Department of Inorganic Substances Technology, headed by Valery Aleksandrovich Hemilian, a student of D.I. Mendeleev. V.O. Hemilian played an important role in the organisation of chemical education and training of chemical technologists in the country.

At the institute, V.O. Hemilian taught courses in mineral technology, water and fuel technology, and managed the technical laboratory.

From 1911 to 1931, the department was headed by a renowned scientist Yegor Ivanovich Orlov, an outstanding chemist, talented technologist and public figure who worked in the field of mineral technology, physical and organic chemistry.

For his outstanding contribution to the development of science and the chemical industry, he was elected a full member of the Academy of Sciences and awarded the titles of Honoured Worker of Science and Technology and Honoured Professor.

Ivan Evgrafovich Adadurov headed the department from 1933 to 1938. During these years, he carried out numerous studies in the fields of chemical process kinetics, catalysis and the development of sulphuric and nitric acid technologies. His book Nitric Acid was the first textbook on nitric acid technology in the country. He took an active part in the development of the chemical industry and was respected as an outstanding specialist.

In 1938, after V.E. Adadurov left for Leningrad, Vasily Ivanovich Atroshchenko was appointed head of the department and remained in charge until 1986.

During the years of his leadership, he did a great deal of work in training scientific personnel, organising and developing research work, strengthening ties with industry, and creating industry and problem laboratories. The fruitful and multifaceted activities of Vasyl Ivanovych and his scientific school were highly appreciated by the state, and V.I. Atroshchenko himself became a Hero of Socialist Labour, a laureate of the USSR State Prize, an academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, a laureate of the L.V. Pysarzhevsky Prize, an Honoured Scientist of Ukraine, and a laureate of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Pysarzhevsky Prize, Honoured Worker of Science of the Ukrainian SSR, and an honorary member of the D.I. Mendeleev All-Union Chemical Society.

After him, the head of the department was V.I. Atroshchenko’s student, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Oleksii Loboyko.

Since 2019, the department has been headed by Valentyn Kazakov, a well-known specialist in the chemical industry, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Honoured Worker of Industry of Ukraine.

Since 2024, the department has been headed by O.Y. Loboyko’s student, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor Oleksandr Viktorovych Kobzev.