Semen Vlasov

Born 1789; died 1821. Russian chemist-industrialist and inventor.

Vlasov was born into the family of a serf. With the assistance of a group of Russian scientists, he received his freedom in 1811 and entered the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy, graduating in 1815. He was appointed a research worker in the academy’s laboratory and in 1815 developed a new method of producing sulfuric acid in wooden chambers permeated with melted sulfur (instead of lead chambers). Following the English chemist H. Davy, he obtained potassium and sodium by means of electrolysis. In 1819-20 he solved the problem of the regeneration of nitric acid by means of the recovery of nitric oxides. Vlasov also worked on the manufacture of very stable dyes and developed a number of other inventions. His works have remained unpublished.