Egor Vagner
Vagner, Egor Egorovich
Born Nov. 27 (Dec. 9), 1849, in Kazan; died Nov. 14 (27), 1903, in Warsaw. Russian organic chemist.
In 1874, Vagner graduated from the University of Kazan. From 1875 he worked with A. M. Butlerov, and from 1876 with N. A. Menshutkin. From 1882 he was a professor in the chemistry subdepartment at Novoaleksandr’ Institute of Agriculture, and from 1886 he was a professor at Warsaw University. In 1888 he developed a general method of oxidizing ethylene bonds with permanganate and an important method of investigating the structure of compounds containing multiple bonds. Vagner’s most interesting research in the field of terpenes was his establishing the structure of the main component of Russian pine turpentines, α = pinene (1895-96), which is extremely unstable in air.