Necessity is the Mother of Invention

About the Author

Vadim Davankov

Vadim Davankov is Professor and Head of the Laboratory for Stereochemistry of Sorption Processes, Nesmeyanov-Institute of Organoelement Compounds, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. He was born on November 20, 1937 in Moscow, and followed in the footsteps of his parents by studying at the Mendeleev Higher School for Chemical Technology. He later graduated from the Technische Hochschule Dresden, and there, despite the recommendations of USSR Embassy officials, married a Greek woman, Evtichia. He joined the Nesmeyanov-Institute in Moscow as a technician in 1962, gained a PhD and DrSc, and became a full professor in 1980. He is the proud recipient of numerous awards, including the State Award of Russia (1996), Distinguished Scientist of Russia (2005), Kargin Award in Polymer Chemistry (2017), Chirality Gold Medal (1999), Martin Gold Medal (2005), Molecular Chirality International Award (2010), M. Tswett & W. Nernst Separation Science EU Award (2010). He has two sons, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.